


The Guilty Party

by StormtheCastle



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game), Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Action & Romance, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Criminals, CYaRon, Criminal!Guilty Kiss, F/F, Guilty Kiss - Freeform, Medium Burn, Multi, OC parents I guess, Polyamory, Saint Snow - Freeform, Slow Burn, Undecided first year pairing(s), Very AU, azalea - Freeform, it'll get there, maybe I'll go for the full year group set, or maybe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-09-25 03:58:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 49,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17114060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormtheCastle/pseuds/StormtheCastle
Summary: Criminal!Guilty Kiss AU.The vast city of Uchiura is home to criminals of all sorts in a constant struggle between each other and the police. Guilty Kiss has managed to carve a space for themselves and survive, but when a job falls into their laps promising all they could have ever hoped for and more, the uneasy status quo of the city will be irrevocably shattered.Yeah I admit it. It's an ensemble fic.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh. This fic exists because a certain person got me into LLS. You know who you are. Why did you do this to me.

The heavy heat of the day cloaking Uchiura in lethargy remained even by nighttime. Evening plans were cancelled or moved in favor of the cool air of indoor areas with air conditioning. By midnight, the day was deemed over for even the most adventurous of night owls as they holed themselves away from the heat.

For some, however, the day had just begun.

The members of Guilty Kiss entered the club with sighs of relief at the wash of cool air that greeted them. Both the lighting and the music were pleasantly low: enough for customers to be aware of their existence but muted enough to provide a level of sultry ambience.

Though the _Snow Globe_ was never overwhelmingly packed even in its busiest days, there was a definite lull in business at that moment. The first floor's dancefloor and bar only sported a couple of people moving sedately to the slower beat of the music and one such group exited as the trio entered, emptying the place even further.

Mari ignored the first floor, making her way to the stairs and up to the second: a lounge built in such a way that the floor opened up to overlook the floor below. There were several relatively private tables scattered throughout and a more lively gambling section, with the sounds of a roulette wheel turning, muttered chatter over poker cards, and the rhythmic click of games of pool. She ignored it all, moving at an unhurried pace but with the kind of focus of someone with a clear objective. Mari made for the bar and hopped onto one of the stools, flashing a smile at the bartender.

“Thanks for dropping by,” Kazuno Sarah said, leaning over the bar and sliding a drink over to Mari. “On the house.”

“Sorry,” Mari apologized, pushing the drink back after she pulled it over and inspected it. “No alcohol today. I’ll have to take the short version with no drinks. We have somewhere to go after this.”

“We?” Sarah raised an eyebrow.

Mari turned to look over her shoulder and made a small noise of amused confusion at the empty spaces behind her. “One moment please,” she said absently, taking a few steps over to the edge of the lounge and peering down. She scanned through the darkened, pulsing lights, but eventually found Riko and Yoshiko looking rather ruffled near the edge of dance floor.

Somehow, Yoshiko had managed to get a drink dumped over her. It was presumably by accident if the apologetic bowing to her was any indication, Mari noted.

As if sensing her gaze, Riko looked up and their eyes met. Mari tilted her head in question but Riko gave her an “all ok” hand gesture.

Mari nodded and returned to the bar. “Well it looks like we have a little bit more time,” Mari said. She tilted her head curiously at the sight of Sarah stepping from out of the bar, already replaced by another person slinging out shots to a couple on the opposite end of the bar. “Going somewhere?”

“I don’t want to be on the job while telling you this,” Sarah said simply, waving at Mari to follow her.

Curiosity piqued, Mari followed Sarah up another set of stairs and into a floor of closed doors leading to private rooms. Sarah led the way to an open room and entered without looking back. Mari stepped through as well and closed the door behind them.

The room was elegantly decorated and had a plush L-shaped couch lined up against two of the walls. A wide-screen tv was set into one of the opposing walls while the other was covered by a heavy curtain and a stripper pole.

“What do you know about the Kurosawas?” Sarah asked as she sat down.

Mari blinked slowly. “The governor?” Sarah nodded at the question and Mari perched at the end of the couch. “Kurosawa Akira. Quite wealthy. Widower. 2 daughters. With the election coming up, there is political motive for taking something from him, but with his ties to the police, the risk is pretty high. Most people wouldn't think the reward is worth it.”

“Well that tune has changed,” Sarah said as she reached into the pocket of her suit and pulled out a phone. “This is an open bounty that was sent to each of the Yakuza clans along with some of the bigger gangs in Uchiura.”

Mari leaned over as Sarah reached out to hand over the device. “Th-” Mari choked and nearly dropped the phone. “Three billion yen?” She paused as she read further. “Or more?”

“The source is trustworthy, at least in terms of paying for services,” Sarah assured her.

“But what does Kurosawa have that is worth that much?”

“Not what. _Who_.”

(-)(-)(-)

Mari left the _Snow Globe_ not really paying attention to what she was doing. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that as her auto-pilot directed her to the passenger side of the car, she almost sat on Yoshiko before realizing what was happening. She stopped and blinked blankly at Yoshiko. “What are you doing on this side?” Then she sniffed. “ _Wow_ , that drink really caught you. I can still smell it. Hmmm, strawberry.”

“That is what I’m trying to fix,” Yoshiko sighed, giving her a light shove and bending over to peer at the compartment currently open by her feet. “But it seems like heaven’s curse against Yohane continues unabated because there is _nothing_ here. Do you have any wipes, Mari?”

“There’s nothing back here,” Riko’s voice was muffled from the backseat.

“We had to use it all up for the last job remember?” Mari reminded them. “Anyways, do you think we can make do without a complete cleanup? I doubt we will be up against odor sensors for this job.”

Yoshiko considered as she neatly closed up the compartment and slid out of the car to make way to the other side. “It should be fine. Yohane shall cast a veil of darkness that no mortal eyes can penetrate and we shall make our way into the heart of the fortress unseen.”

“Yes, but how about un-smelled?” Riko asked as Yoshiko slid into the driver’s seat.

“…That too.”

(-)(-)(-)

“Well that landlady certainly smelled you,” Riko murmured to Yoshiko one nerve-wracking conversation and a threat to call the cops later as they exited out the back of a plain and rather aged apartment building.

“This is why we have Mari with us,” Yoshiko said with some relief. “Good job my little demon!”

"Why _of course_ ~" Mari grinned. She didn’t say anything else while they all peered around the area. They looked around with the slight wariness of those who were mostly sure of what to expect but still prepared for any surprises.

They were in a tiny enclosure that could almost be counted as an alleyway if it weren’t for the fact that it was bricked off on each end. The ground was a warzone between cracking pavement; hard, crusty dirt; and pockets of rebellious weeds. In the corner was a small shed that looked like it hadn’t been touched in at least half a century.

Riko went over the shed and reached behind it with a slight grimace. A moment later, she carefully eased out a ladder and brought it over to the building opposite of the apartment building.

As if a switch flipped, the other two straightened, jokes vanishing. While a smile still lingered on Mari’s lips, any amusement on Yoshiko’s face was wiped away as both moved to prepare themselves for the upcoming job.

Riko set up the ladder and took a deep breath. She could feel her heart rate begin to pick up as anticipation settled in, but she looked first at Mari, with her ever-present smile just before it was covered up by her full-face mask and Yoshiko who had already pulled up her hood and a more basic face mask and adopted some sort of pose as part of her preparation. Riko’s nerves settled, and she nodded to herself as she pulled on her own ski mask.

There was a pause as the trio regarded each other like strangers. As if Riko hadn’t just sat through the other two singing through a wild, choppy rendition of _Barbie Girl_ in English and dancing to it while dead sober that very day. As if Mari hadn’t seen the other two cowering after watching bad horror movies together. (As if Yoshiko had never seen them haunted and shaking after making the choice to save her life over others.)

Riko tilted her head, feeling a small smile form on her lips as they all asked the question hovering in the air.

“Ready?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Strawberry Trapper in the distance


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> News of the bounty has already spread and Guilty Kiss has to face one of the results.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I already have 2.5 more chapters written but after that updates will definitely be slower so beware...

Yoshiko slipped easily onto the ledge on the outside of the balcony's railing, just out of view of the simple camera monitoring the balcony. She eyed it as she edged over, skirting its rather limited field of vision.

Despite being on such a tiny space beyond the railing, Yoshiko moved confidently and without losing balance until she could reach the camera from under its cone of vision. She looked up at the rickety-looking bracket holding it; it looked like a stiff breeze would crack it. She winced at the thought but reached up and eased the camera breath by breath just a bit more to the side, so that it looked away from the balcony’s edges and instead more securely into the center of the balcony and the sliding door leading inside.

Brushing off little flakes of rust from her gloves, Yoshiko turned back to see her partners had finished climbing up while she adjusted the camera.

Riko came up first, nodding at Yoshiko’s thumbs up. With Riko’s ski mask and full-body black clothing, she was the only one who actually looked the part of professional thief especially in comparison to Yoshiko’s hooded jacket making her look more like a delinquent and Mari’s grinning mask clashing with the crisp suit she had worn.

At a casual glance, they seemed like a motley gang of criminals from different walks of life, presumably united by the job. However, beneath that layer of misdirection was the silent understanding of years working and living together. Like the way Riko, utterly trusting in Yoshiko’s work, went immediately past the railing to the safer footing of the main balcony. She made sure to keep flush against the railing but there was no concern about being seen as she scooted to the left adjacent window.

Mari, up last, lifted the ladder after her and leaned it along the inside of the railing. Once done, she and Yoshiko moved to hover by Riko. The only actual visible part of Riko, her eyes, were already focused on disabling a sensor and unlocking the window it was attached to. Without turning, she held up a hand and made a twisting motion with it. Mari rustled around the shoulder bag that was part of her current suit's ensemble and handed over the requested tool.

Yoshiko just glanced around nervously, eyeing the silent and darkened rows of windows looming across from them. It would take one lucky (or unlucky) citizen looking outwards to put an ignominious end to their current plans. There was no _reason_ for anybody to look, but the possibility made her nervous all the same. That thought alone made her sweat more than the cloying heat around them.

“This entire job smells like a trap,” Yoshiko murmured, eyes darting from one window to another.

“Definitely,” Mari agreed lightly. “Especially after what Sarah-san told us.”

“But is the trap for us?” Riko wondered, voice tight.

There was a long pause punctuated by a soft noise as Riko completed her task and slid the window open. Finally, “Well even if it is,” Mari said sounding grimly amused. “We will get out of it. We always do.”

It was a small consolation and the other two didn’t answer, but they agreed silently.

But their entrance was secure and waiting and there was no reason to loiter.

“Let us descend then, my little demons. Hell awaits,” Yoshiko muttered to the others as she took point once more and slipped in.

At least for that moment, no one noticed the newly opened window and no alarms were tripped. The world continued turning, nobody the wiser of the three new shadows where they did not belong.

(-)(-)(-)

As expected, they were a great team.

The Ohara Clan’s matriarch would not have wanted her daughter to be part of the freshly-named “Guilty Kiss,” (and honestly, whose idea was that?) but she could admit the advantage of creating such a well-matched unit.

Mari, who plotted the way to the target and charmed the people in her way. Riko, who bypassed the alarms and locks with deft hands and a sharp mind. Yoshiko, who moved with ease out of sight of all eyes, living or mechanical, to steal the goods. They were young, of course, barely out of high school, but with time their talents could topple governments.

Even more, once her friends had joined the clan properly, Mari’s apathy had lessened: she had been more open to accepting the responsibilities she held as the heir of the family.

But…

The Ohara matriarch’s eyes narrowed as she watched the trio celebrate their first successful job in their own private little bubble, separate from the rest of the clan members surrounding them. She had thought that having Mari’s friends joining the family would tie Mari more closely to her position. But watching the trio, she had no doubts that her daughter’s loyalty lay rather separate from the family itself. Sakurauchi and Tsushima were perhaps too close…

(-)(-)(-)

Getting into their target vault was not altogether difficult for Guilty Kiss, armed with years of experience and quite a bit of preparation. Each member moved with the secure knowledge of people familiar with each camera and sensor, each step as practiced as they were cautious. Blind spots, sleight of hand, and even some gymnastic talents were used to bypass or cover the watchful tech to stop them from noticing any changes as they made their way in.

The banks vaults were all underground with very little natural light trickling in but once the inner sensors and cameras in the antechamber were secured with little hoods to block them, the trio made use of small flashlights, flicking their lights around to scan their surroundings and home in on the vault they wanted.

The vault’s door, while about a foot thick and protected by its own unique key, number combination, and pressure sensor were all dealt with just as easily as their path through the bank had been with Riko’s precise touch and Mari’s hard-earned knowledge.

The hardest part was after entering the vault.

With the delicate sensors set up in there, even the act of opening the door would register their heat signatures and the change, minor as it was.

So, it fell to Riko, covered in a filmy poncho to minimize her heat signature and wearing the bag full of tools, to step in and blindly access the security panel. Her job was to rewire the circuits by touch, experience, and practice before they were noticed.

A quick glance at their synchronized watches confirmed the time. They exchanged glances as best they could through their masks and then turned off their lights.

Then a whisper of cloth and a low rumble of the door could be heard when Mari heaved open the door. Yoshiko was in position immediately, maintaining a steady pressure on the plate set near the frame. Riko darted into the room in the small space open to her and then the door slid shut.

The moment the door had opened, the sensors noticed the slight changes in heat and sound both from the intruder and from outside. Which was why at the exact same moment, a distraction broke out at the bank’s entrance: minor enough to not call in the police, but big enough to draw the attention of anybody watching the security feeds. Riko’s appearance in the vault became static white noise, lost to the ruckus.

But she did not have a lot of time to do her job; the distraction couldn’t last forever and the poncho could not completely isolate Riko’s heat signature.

Mari and Yoshiko stood still in the dark room, counting breaths or heartbeats and straining their ears for any sort of response, either from within the vault or from without.

A minute passed.

Then another.

And another.

By the time five minutes should have come and gone, Mari shifted, glanced uneasily beside her at Yoshiko who was also beginning to move. Mari couldn’t quite see her in the lightless antechamber, but they were close enough she could faintly hear Yoshiko tapping a very soft rhythm as if counting the seconds out loud would explain the lack of response from within the vault.

A chill of unease crept up her spine as more time passed by and Mari gritted her teeth. She reached up, brushing her hand against her necklace briefly before withdrawing as she made her decision.

“We have to go in,” Mari said, leaning over so her whisper could reach Yoshiko’s ear.

“What if she needs more time?” Yoshiko asked. She sounded tense. Nervous. But her beat remained steady. _Tap. Tap_. _Tap_.

“Do you really think she’d take this long?”

“…No.”

Mari let out a breath. “We won’t have much time to leave if the alarm triggers.”

“Like you said,” Yoshiko said, smile audible in the dark. “We’ll get out of it.” There was no doubt in her statement and Mari felt a wry grin pull at her mouth. For all that Yoshiko loved being a fallen angel, she had always been surprisingly optimistic.

They couldn’t see each other with the lack of light, but they were close enough that it took minimal searching before their hands met. They squeezed. Then, Mari strode over to the memorized position of the door and swung it open, quick and sharp in one motion. Yoshiko dove in, flashlight blazing on.

Her light swept over the empty center of the room, the open panel by the door near the ceiling with wires exposed, and then landed Riko. She was standing in front of an opened safe box and at the new light behind her, she froze, the line of her back stiffening. She didn’t turn.

Yoshiko came up behind her, relieved and worried in turn. Her mouth opened to say something, perhaps to scold, perhaps to check on her, when Riko finally turned her head. She had a smaller flashlight clenched between her teeth and Yoshiko squinted past the light to meet her eyes only to flinch at the sight. “Riri…?”

“…” From the daggers being stabbed into the fallen angel telepathically, if Riko could have said anything, she would have been ripping both of them to shreds with her words too. As it was, she contented herself with just her body language.

“Riri,” Yoshiko said slowly, frowning back as she shook off the brunt of the glowering. “What were you doing?”

Mari came up on Riko’s other side. Her mask glanced over them, but she obviously judged that Yoshiko could handle the death glare alone because she turned away, sweeping her light into the open safe instead.

As she did so, Riko withdrew her hands and used one to take the flashlight from her mouth.

Her hand was trembling.

 “What are you two doing in here?” Riko hissed.

Yoshiko kept her gaze on Riko, trying and failing to keep her temper at bay. Slowly, inviting Riko to answer, she said, “Tell me this isn’t what it looks like.”

The fight seemed to drain from Riko and she sighed. “If it was that kind of trap,” Riko said quietly. “We didn’t all need to be there. It would have only caught one of us.” There was not an ounce of guilt in her voice, but she turned back to the safe box, breaking the hold of Yoshiko’s gaze.

Yoshiko stared at the side of her head speechlessly and then shifted her gaze to Mari. Maybe the smooth-talking blonde could talk some sense into Riko?

But Mari shook her head. “We can talk about Riko-chan's recklessness later,” she said, her tone light and flippant. “We have other pressing matters to deal with.”

“The security?” Yoshiko asked, alarmed.

“Did I miss something?” Riko added, turning to glance over at the box by the door with its wires exposed in confusion. She thought she had managed to loop the signals and she couldn’t hear any alarms going off despite the current state of the vault.

“You didn’t get a chance to look in the box very closely did you?” Mari asked. “How do I say this…”

Riko and Yoshiko turned as one to look into safe box as Mari uncharacteristically hesitated. At first all they could see was what looked like papers and a couple of small boxes. Then, as the light of their flashlights travelled farther in, it fell on…

“Someone was here first,” Mari said. “And left an _explosive_ present.”

As a strangled exhale escaped Riko, Yoshiko just stared at the bomb, a low churning starting in her gut of mingled disbelief and fear. It was times like these that Yoshiko really could believe that some deity was out to get her.

(-)(-)(-)

The Lockley Private Bank had only three security guards monitoring the building during the night. One of them spent his time staring at a variety of security cameras and sensor monitors while the other two walked rather long patrols separately throughout the structure. During the day, the grand total of guards went up to five to better keep an eye on the constant movement of clientele.

The lack of guards was not so much a security failure as it was well-placed confidence in the power of their actual technological safeguards: a whole host of top-of-the-line cameras and sensors. The finishing touch was that the bank stood only a block away from the local police station. Any missteps on a would-be criminal’s side would be punished rapidly and not many were willing to risk that sort of failure.

But the bank’s greatest draw, and greatest weakness, was the privacy afforded to its customers. It was a bank not just for precious jewelry or money but for secrets. Documents, photographs, even tapes and videos, were all placed discretely and personally into their place. It was a place for information that was too important to erase entirely but dangerous enough that customers hoped it would be lost forever in the darkened vaults.

It was a place for information that could make, or break, people.

While Guilty Kiss was not usually in the business of either, at least not so directly, some jobs could not be refused. It took one call and then they were hired to get their hands on the information in Governor Kurosawa’s vault.

Despite the difficulty of the targeted bank, the job had seemed simple enough. However, when they learned of the bounty from Sarah, the stakes changed. There were others focusing on the Kurosawa family now—a dangerous scrutiny that could fall upon Guilty Kiss.

It had perhaps been a foolish move on Riko’s part, but it had been one driven by worry for the other two: she needed to test the target alone. If there were any traps lying in wait, _they_ would stay safe at least.

She should have expected that the other two would not stay put.

“This calls for a change in plans,” Mari said as everyone stared at the bomb sitting innocuously in front of them. She fell silent, head tilted to the side in thought. As the silence grew longer, Riko could feel a trickle of sweat slide down the back of her neck.

“Mari-chan…”

“Yes?”

“I might…” her voice failed her as fear coiled around her throat.

“Are you offering to defuse it?” Mari asked quietly, her gaze boring into the side of Riko’s head. She hesitated and her eyes wandered over to the subject of their attention. “Can you do it?”

Riko bit her lip at the question and looked towards the bomb as well. Could she…?

“What will you do if I say no?” she asked.

“Well, the smart option would be to grab the information, make a run for it, and leave this bomb to do its job,” Mari said, her voice tinted by dark humor. Underneath her joking tone, she didn’t sound too happy with that idea and Riko couldn’t blame her.

Beside them, Yoshiko was practically vibrating with tension, but she kept quiet, listening to them talk.

Riko wondered if the soft, rhythmic _tick_ was her imagination or if it was actually coming out of the bomb. Her mouth felt very dry.

“I believe this bomb was meant for the Kurosawas, so we should have a lot of time to decide as long as no one pokes their head in here,” Mari continued. “But if we’re planning on defusing it, only you are capable. I believe the choice is yours.”

A little noise of protest escaped Riko’s mouth. She didn’t _want_ to decide. “What do you think, Yoshiko-chan?” Riko asked.

Yoshiko stopped moving. “I don’t—”

“What do you think?” Riko repeated, staring at her.

“I want to defuse the bomb,” she admitted at last. “But Riri…” Yoshiko’s eyes were astonishingly clear as she looked at Riko, seeing past the conflict that had brought her to a standstill. “You can’t do it right now, can you?”

She couldn’t.

She wanted to, with an intense, desperate desire to prove herself capable and free of their past, but the thought of the bomb and the other two there—because they wouldn’t leave her, not now—made her tremble and her mind blank with terror.

“We can’t leave it here though,” Riko finally whispered. “Even if we’re interrupting someone’s attempt for the bounty, we can’t just… leave it here.”

“Actually, we can,” Mari said suddenly. She raised a hand to forestall the protests as she leaned close to the others. “I have an idea.”

And after she explained, after the vault was sealed once more, after the three had slipped out the way they had come in, the bomb continued clicking away into the night.

(-)(-)(-)

Riko tilted her head as she stared at the middle schooler just a grade lower than her. The other girl was posing with her fingers in a v-shape in front of her face. She had a black feather sticking out of the bun in her blue hair and she looked a lot like the Tsushima Daycare owner. Perhaps they were related?

“You want me,” she began slowly, wondering if she had misheard. “To… become your… ‘little demon’?”

The other girl nodded enthusiastically.

Not entirely sure how to respond, Riko stepped back by a step. “I’m sorry, I…’m not a little demon person?” she responded hesitantly.

“By signing this contract to Yohane, we will never be separated. It lasts forever,” Yohane(?) said, looking at her pleadingly.

“My parents told me to not sign any contracts strangers offer me,” Riko said more promptly, relieved to have an actual response. It had been strange when they had told her about it, but maybe her parents knew this girl would ask her to do this?

“It’s not an actual contract,” someone said beside them and both turned to the newcomer.

It was a blonde girl who looked around their age though perhaps slightly older and she looked rather bored with the entire conversation already.

“Ah! Mari-chan!” Yohane waved excitedly, undeterred by the other girl’s expression. “What are you doing here?”

“My mother had work to do,” the girl, Mari, replied. “And I overheard you just now.” Her light gold eyes turned back to Riko, gleaming with the slightest bit of curiosity. “Yoshiko-chan here is asking you to be her friend,” she explained. “She doesn’t always say what she tries to say.”

Yoshiko spluttered, starting to turn a little red and flustered. “I-I-I--meanIguess,” she mumbled, shuffling her feet. Very deliberately, she looked away from Riko.

Riko blinked. “Oh,” she said. A friend? “Why?”

“You… You looked like you’d be a good little demon,” Yoshiko said, crossing her arms and looking back at her.

Tilting her head, Riko mulled the words over in her mind, aware of Mari watching her closely. What was she trying to say? “ _You looked like you’d be a good_ -” friend. It was friend. Riko felt warm _. Is it really that easy?_ “Okay,” she said tentatively.

And then Yoshiko turned to her, beaming and Mari’s expression twitched into a tiny smile and Riko thought, _oh._

_Maybe it is._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AZALEA closes up a case while CYaRon comes home.

Even with the airtight case Dia had for her prosecution, she would have spent the entire night combing through her case files if it weren’t for the combined efforts of Kanan and Hanamaru unanimously and forcibly denying that course of action.

“Years,” Dia pleaded, eyes glued to the sheaf of papers Kanan held out of her reach. “We have spent years getting enough to lock him behind bars. Just let me check to see—”

“Exactly, zura,” Hanamaru argued, more than a little concerned about the manic glint in the lawyer's eyes. She knew from experience that Dia would never pull free from a case just in general, but those specific eyes always promised sleepless nights with no snacks or breaks, only Dia running herself (and the other two) onwards through pure will of force. “We have years of evidence and it’s the last day of the trial! He can’t wriggle free now.”

“Gang bosses like him can always ‘wriggle free’ if I’m not careful,” Dia said dubiously.

“You’ll make mistakes if you don’t eat and rest,” Kanan said firmly as Hanamaru nodded furiously in agreement.

“I can eat while I review,” Dia stated resolutely.

“A _break_ , Dia,” Kanan emphasized. Only Ruby was better than her at navigating Dia’s moods, but it still normally took some sort of combined effort between her, Ruby, and Hanamaru to put a stop to the Eyes. Which were currently glaring at them fiercely. Hanamaru estimated that they were winning though, because the glare was only at around 30% lethality. “You’ll be able to look at it again later with a clearer head.”

“I’ll even share one of my Noppo bread with you, zura,” Hanamaru bribed reluctantly. It was a golden chance and they all knew it.

“…Deal.”

Kanan sighed in relief and deliberately handed over the papers, watching like a hawk as Dia packed them all away securely. “It’s late, but I’m sure we could all do with something to eat. What would you like?” she asked.

Before Dia could respond, her phone buzzed and she raised a finger in a ‘wait’ motion as she answered. “Kurosawa Dia speaking.”

The other two drew back just a bit so they weren't infringing on the call, focusing most of their attention on debating the merits of various food choices. It turned out to be less of a debate and more of Kanan suggesting choices with Hanamaru agreeing wholeheartedly with the options.

“Chief?” Dia asked in surprise. At her exclamation, Hanamaru and Kanan perked up, concerned. Why would the chief of police call her instead of them? “Ah, yes. Since they’re major witnesses for the case, after all. We are taking a break right now.”

Realization set in on them as Dia continued talking, tilting her head in consideration about whatever the Chief was saying on the other end. She gave them the stink-eye as both sheepishly and in unison, reached to pull out their phones. As they checked their phones, Dia’s voice dropped and she frowned. She turned away, speaking for a bit longer on the phone in a hushed whisper.

When the call ended, Hanamaru was busy frowning down at her phone in consternation. “My phone isn’t turning on, zura.”

“When was the last time you charged it?” Kanan asked curiously.

“…I’m very sorry.” Hanamaru bowed in shame.

“I left mine on silent,” Kanan said looking momentarily guilty before it transformed into concern. “Though that’s a lot of missed calls. Should we head back to the station? If they’re calling this late—”

“You probably should,” Dia nodded.

The eyes were back, but this time directed at another target entirely. “We received and confirmed an anonymous tip about a bomb in Lockley.”

(-)(-)(-)

Over the years Mari learned much at her mother’s knee. Things like how to read a person and how to twist them. Or how the more truth there was in a lie, the better the lie became. Lies and truth just went together well, like a curry beef bowl.

Riko and Yoshiko had never understood that comparison, but they were the only ones to ever read past her lies and become her partners for over a decade, so Mari didn’t mind. It made their group just that much better.

Relieved over their successful theft and trusting that the bomb would be dealt with after their tip, the trio drove back silently to their apartment. The air was thick with unsaid words as they made their way up to the top floor and then let themselves into their home: a sleek penthouse suite.

Once the door closed and they were safe, some of the tension from the job left their bodies only to be replaced by a new sort of stress. Still, no one said anything as they made their way to the living room. A quiet click later and the shutters covering the wall to wall windows slid open with a low hum. The room was still dark, but the glittering lights of the still-active city seeped in, casting dim shadows.

They didn't turn on the lights; it seemed safer somehow, having this conversation in the dark. Everything seemed just a little more distant, a little more muted.

The trio arranged themselves around on the couches surrounding a low table. Each took a separate spot, with Riko looking very small as she sat in the longest couch between the two and looked back at the others. The redhead draw herself up, prepared for the scolding the other two would unleash on her for what she had done.

Mari let the silence simmer as she finished artfully arranging herself across the couch carelessly ( _lie_ ) and then she looked at Riko, allowing a momentary glimpse of frustration ( _truth_ ). She stared at her long and hard, and despite the small, even pleasant smile on her face, she knew that Riko was getting the message that she was trying to pinpoint just the exact way to make Riko regret all of her life choices up to that point.

But as she continued looking, she could see the heavy weight on Riko’s shoulders and the shadows in her eyes. At that moment, Riko was only half there with them. Another part of her was years away, at another time and another place with a bomb that had not been left behind so easily.

“Riko,” Mari began, causing everyone to flinch at the sudden shattering of the silent standoff. She sighed, feeling her own exhaustion well up. It wasn’t like she could really be angry at Riko, especially for this; she was family. “We’re in this together remember?” Their eyes met and Mari allowed her smile to break into something more crooked. “We couldn’t leave Yoshiko last time, so why would we leave you this time?”

“Yeah, we wouldn’t leave _voluntarily_ ,” Yoshiko said sharply. “But what if the bomb had been on a trigger when opening the safe box? Then what? God, _what would we do if you had died_?”

Her voice cracked and she lunged at Riko. For one wild moment, Mari thought she was actually attempting to strangle the other woman and she was halfway off of the couch before she saw Yoshiko just clamp her arms around Riko in a violent hug. Riko’s eyes closed and she returned the hug, albeit more gently. “Sorry,” she murmured into Yoshiko’s dark hair. “I’m sorry.”

Her eyes opened again and she gestured at Mari to join them, smiling. “It’s okay. Our contract was for forever, right?”

Mari blinked and then smiled back, sharp and bright.

Yoshiko lifted her head. “Of course,” she said crankily. “And don't you forget it.” She tilted her head to look at Mari as well, all stubbornness in her eyes and the set of her chin.

 Mari widened her smile in reply and allowed the tension to leave the room completely when she dogpiled the other two, drowning out the resulting squeals of protest with a loud, “SHIINYY~!”

And in a tiny corner in the back of her mind, she considered with a little hope and more than a little wonder at how their promise still didn't sound like a lie at all.

Just truth.

(-)(-)(-)

Dia’s arrival to the courthouse the next morning, an hour early to be punctual, passed without much notice. It was during her exit several hours later that the press made its presence known, gathering around her in a loud and eager circle. The triumph of her conviction was quickly wiped away into irritation as she looked around at the throng of bodies around her. She would never admit it, but she was _slightly_ impressed both by how the press always seemed to know when there was actual news to report… and how fast they arrived to get it.

“The defendant has been found guilty on all counts,” she announced to the group. “For more details, a press release has been forwarded to all your stations that you may refer to.”

In response, the reporters pressed closer, excitement increasing rather than abating as she had hoped. “Kurosawa-san, Kurosawa-san! How does it feel being responsible for taking down yet another crime boss?” someone asked.

“I’m pleased,” Dia replied with a sincere, and slightly vindictive smile. “With this, Uchiura is now even safer than before from the thugs that run amok thinking they are free from the law. I hope that the citizens of this city shall also feel safer in their homes now that the city has defanged one of the biggest gangs here.”

There was a pause as the crowd digested her response and then several people shouted out their questions at once. Dia took a moment to glance around at the street but seeing her ride had not appeared yet, she resigned herself to answering them.

“Then what do you have to say about the rise in gang-related activity?” “Any comments about your father’s choice to run again in the upcoming elections?” “Is it true you are currently dating a detective in the police force? Is it Matsuura--”

Dia twitched at the last question and turned her head away quickly to the nearest reporter she recognized: a female reporter she had talked with a couple times before. “Morishima-san,” Dia said curtly. “Your question.”

“Thank you for your hard work in making this city a better place,” she began. “I know your combined efforts with Detective Matsuura-san have made quite a few enemies. Are you not worried at all about acts of revenge?”

“This was the combined effort between myself, Detective Matsuura-san, Officer Kunikida-san, and the entire police force,” Dia replied. “While I am, of course, concerned about the response criminals will have, I will not hide myself in fear of reprisal. I will continue to work hard with the many others in ensuring the safety of this city.”

“Do you have any comments then about the reason Lockley has been closed down by the police?” The intent way Morishima stared at Dia made the lawyer’s skin prickle. _Does she know about the bomb?_ Dia thought. _…And how?_

She hoped it wasn’t a leak in the police force.

“I cannot speak on that topic at this time,” Dia said, eyes flicking towards the car pulling up at the curb beside her. “Questions are over.”

There was an explosion of sound as the reporters desperately shouted last questions at Dia. She ignored them all, wrenching open the car door and sliding into the back of the car. She didn’t even manage to close the door before Kanan took off again, outpacing the crowd with a high-pitched screech of tires.

Dia slammed the door shut and sagged into the seat.

“Seems like we did it,” Kanan noted, glancing briefly at Dia through the rearview mirror before turning her attention back to the road. “Congrats on another successful case.” She sounded terse and unhappy but she managed a little cheer at their success.

“I had all our hard work and a little extra luck,” Dia said, pleased. She raised her arm and let her jacket’s sleeve fall back, revealing a fraying bracelet with cheap-looking, plastic charms hanging off of it. The charms were a random mix of turquoise dolphins, purple stars, and red flowers. “Though I am considering replacing this soon. Perhaps, I will make it into a necklace like yours, Kanan-san?”

“Then you two will match again!” Hanamaru noted with muted warmth when she turned to look back at Dia. “Also, here’s your promised Noppo bread, zura…”

“Thank you.” Dia accepted the offering and took a moment to gauge the other two. She sighed when she met Kanan’s eyes in the rearview mirror again. “How angry are you?”

“The bomb was in your family’s safe box.” Kanan said slowly. “And you knew it.” She paused. “Why didn’t you tell us before sending us to the station? If someone is targeting you…”

“Even if they were after your father, you could have been collateral, zura” Hanamaru continued. “We wouldn’t have let you alone if we knew—”

“And that is why I did not tell you,” Dia explained. “You two are the best we have in Uchiura for figuring out what is going on. I could not in good conscience let you two hover around me when you could be solving the case. I made sure I stayed as safe as I could.”

“I believe you did your best,” Hanamaru said placatingly over Kanan’s scoff. “But you know your safety alone is not as good than if you were with us.”

Kanan cleared her throat and added solemnly, “Just… tell us these things next time. With this many high-profile cases under your belt, I’m not surprised things are heating up. Chief was not very happy that someone was going after you or your family.”

“Speaking of which, the Chief let you two go?” Dia asked belatedly. “I thought she would be keeping you tied up investigating the bomb.”

“We did what we could, but the Department sent actual specialists in and they took over once they arrived.” Kanan said. “Since you’re one of the probable targets of the bomb, we wrangled Chief into assigning us work we can do while guarding you.”

“Just don’t overdo whatever bodyguard detail you’re thinking of,” Dia warned. “It does not matter how many threats there are. I will keep doing my job.”

“Yes, yes,” Kanan replied airily, obviously undeterred and Hanamaru laughed in agreement.

“You’ll be stuck with us until this case is over, zura,” she said. “…Which isn't too different from normal, zura.”

Dia sighed. “Then you had better prepare yourselves,” she threatened playfully. “I won’t let you snack or rest until we’ve finished this threat as fast as possible.”

The other two laughed but the laughter soon petered away when Dia didn’t join in. “Uh, Dia-san?” Hanamaru asked nervously. The sound of plastic crinkling filled the air as she clutched her goods to her chest protectively. “You’re joking right, zura?” When she glanced back at Dia, the serious expression that greeted her made her whimper. “Oh, right! I have some good news, zura!”

“Hmm? What is it?” Dia asked, obviously humoring her distraction.

“The silver lining in all this is that Chika-chan and You-chan are going to come back early. And since they were the ones with the busy schedules…”

“If they get to go back now—that means—” Dia gasped. “Ruby!”

“It’ll sure be nice to see Ruby-chan again,” Hanamaru mused happily, sensing that her change in topic had worked.

“Oh Ruubbyyy,” Dia wailed, fully distracted. “She will finally be _home_.”

As she began muttering an indecipherable stream of things she needed to check over about her sister, Hanamaru shook her head and pulled out some bread to snack on. For all that Dia hated her friends being overprotective and doting over her, she certainly went all out with her own sister. Still, there was no doubt that everyone in the car was excited and eager for their friends and family to finally be back home.

(-)(-)(-)

Mari woke up to the sound of the tv volume turned low enough it became a quiet background whisper and bright noon sunlight cutting through a small opening left in the mostly-closed shutters. It fell across the room in a tiny strip just short of Mari's head at the end of the couch. The room was still dim enough, however, that the tv light flickered throughout the room with each change in frame, casting faint shadows and then wiping them in a constant ripple. Yoshiko was still asleep, tangled together with her and their blanket.

Riko had escaped the cuddle pile at some point but Mari found her quickly. She was still nearby, nursing a cup of tea while slumped over in their comfiest armchair which was set closest to the door.

In more relaxed days, they sometimes had races to see who could get to it first. Riko had once managed to vault so perfectly over the back and onto the seat, the other two had spent the next several weeks trying to perfect that technique and similar ones on various chairs throughout their penthouse.

(Several cheaper ones had broken from their exuberance.)

Riko's head was turned to her left to watch the tv and the news program on it but at Yoshiko's mumbled protest when Mari started extricating herself, Riko turned.

Mari slid out of the tempting trap of warmth and tucked Yoshiko back in when she didn't wake up. “I made some coffee for you,” Riko said quietly. She covered a yawn with a hand as she motioned towards the kitchen.

“Yes, I smelled it,” Mari said warmly. “Thanks.”

“We still have some time before we should head to the airport to deliver the documents,” Riko continued, standing up to follow Mari to the adjacent kitchen. “And Lockley has been closed down but the media hasn't been told anything yet. The police are probably investigating first before they release a statement.”

Mari nodded and then grabbed a mug from the cupboard. She had found it in a yard sale in the more rural town of Numazu years ago. It was a hilariously malformed attempt at a ceramic dolphin that had made her laugh for several minutes straight before she bought it, claiming it as hers for eternity. The coffee went into the mug and Mari took a moment to just lift her drink up to her face to enjoy the aroma.

“While I appreciate the update,” Mari said over the rim of her cup towards Riko. “Did you get any sleep at all?”

“I managed quite a bit,” Riko said shiftily.

“What, an hour?” Mari asked, unimpressed as she lowered her drink to peer more closely at Riko. In a sad attempt at hiding her face, Riko drank some of her tea and turned her head away.

“I’m not tired,” Riko said. “The tea will kick in soon too.”

“I assure you, those bags under your eyes and the yawning you’ve been covering are not figments of your imagination.”

“Is Riri being stubborn?” Yoshiko asked sleepily, slumping in the doorway with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She yawned and then shuffled in closer to the other two, reaching out a hand towards the cup in Riko’s grip. “Does Yohane need to cast a spell of slumber to ensure my little demon stays in good shape?”

“I need to be alert when we head out,” Riko frowned and twisted away from Yoshiko’s groping hand. “Don’t you dare try anything funny.” She finished off her tea, smirking at Yoshiko’s failed attempt at stealing the drink.

Yoshiko grumbled under her breath and snagged Mari’s mug instead, quickly taking a gulp of the liquid. She choked. “Ugh! What is this?”

“It’s coffee and it’s _delicious_.” Mari reclaimed her coffee and drank it with much more gusto.

“I’m not sure what you were expecting,” Riko said to Yoshiko.

Yoshiko shrugged sheepishly and returned to the topic at hand. “Just lay down, Riri. You don’t have to sleep,” she said, her face still twisted at the taste in her mouth. “And if you do, I’ll wake you up. Yohane shall not allow Mari deal with her mother without us when it is our debt to pay.”

“It’s not—” Mari began.

“It is,” Riko and Yoshiko chorused.

“And we will be there with you every step we take in repaying it,” Riko finished. Then, despite her best attempts, she yawned again. “Fine,” she gave in. “I’ll lay down for a little bit.”

“Okay!” Yoshiko said brightly. “I’ll be there once I’ve rinsed out my mouth.”

Mari rolled her eyes at that. “I’ll join you in a bit as well,” she added. Her eyes shifted over towards the tv which was still on. The screen showed a flash of a news report about a violent gang-related attack before switching to a speech Governor Kurosawa was giving about the city’s war against crime. She allowed her thoughts to linger for just a moment on the man who was trying so hard to fight against the ghosts of his losses (a wife and mother, his closest friends, his old life upturned) and the heavy price he had accrued in doing so. Over 3 billion yen… She shook her head and smiled at the other two. “I just need to turn off the news.”

(-)(-)(-)

Kanan and her family didn't live in the main hub of Uchiura, the part that everyone thought of when thinking of the city, so she loved the small get-togethers they held every month that brought the Kurosawa family over. Dia was very proper and serious, even at her ripe old age of seven, but she told fantastic stories about what Uchiura was really like.

“You can get lost really easy,” the black-haired girl told Kanan as they ate together at their own table while the adults chatted cheerfully at their own table nearby. “Even police can get lost. The officer that found me had to call for directions to get back to the station…” She sniffed with as much disdain that an elementary schooler could manage. “It’s a mess! At least you don’t have to deal with that living right by the dock district.”

 Kanan just shrugged. “I think living in downtown would be cool,” she offered. “Then we could meet up more often!”

Dia’s father overheard her comment and laughed uproariously. “Hear that?” he asked Kanan’s parents. “One day I’ll convince you all to leave the sea and join us.”

Her grandfather snorted. “It’ll take more than a best friend to take our family away from the ocean, lad.”

“I’d leave for Dia,” Kanan said loyally.

“Listen to her,” Dia’s father said, still laughing. “Looks like our children are better friends than we are.”

A loud bang wiped the smiles from all the adults’ faces. Then several bangs happened in increasing succession. The noise startled a sleeping Ruby and she woke up, starting to cry in agitation. Outside, a similar wail sounded. “Dia, take your sister and go upstairs. Kanan, you too.” Kanan blinked and nodded automatically as the adults stood up, concern etched on their faces.

“Is it--?” Dia’s father began.

“The gangs again? Probably.” Kanan’s mother looked grim. “We need to call in backup and see what we can do.”

“You’re going out there?”

Kanan hesitated at the bottom of the stairs and turned back when she heard that question.

“You fight criminals with words, but not all of us can speak like you do,” Kanan’s mother said as Dia’s mother joined her and looked back at Dia’s father who suddenly looked very small and very afraid.

“This is our job, Akira.”

In the following silence, Kanan’s father looked away from the group, catching his daughter’s eye and smiling. He winked cheerfully, shooing her up the stairs after the dutiful Dia. “Don't worry. I’ll see you soon, Kanan.”

(-)(-)(-)

“They’re late,” Dia said irritably to no one in particular. Chika, You, and Ruby’s flight had been delayed by a mechanical issue, so she couldn’t even turn her ire on anyone. However, each minute late meant another minute she had to wait before she could finally reunite with her adorable little sister so she settled for tapping her foot impatiently and scowling at those brave enough to come near.

“They’ll be here soon,” Hanamaru said patiently. She looked about a step away from some kind of meditative spiritual awakening, which was a feat considering the bustle around them. A toddler was shrieking loudly nearby as if it had no need for air like most mortals and a businessman had decided to come to a stop right next to them to argue furiously through his phone about whether or not he should attend something.

The doors nearby opened and a flood of people departed, filling the air either with fatigued, jet-lagged yawns or the pent-up energy of tourists ready to explore a new frontier. A quick scan showed none of the people desired and Dia sighed as the noise level in the airport doubled. She closed her eyes.

“Are you okay, Dia?” Kanan asked beside her and Dia opened her eyes again.

Kanan’s impatience had manifested in her taking a walk around the airport to work off her pent-up energy. Apparently, she had also managed to pick up some pastries in the process. She held them out to the other two. Unsurprisingly, Hanamaru took one at once but Dia shook her head. “Those look homemade,” she noted instead. “Who did you help out this time?”

Kanan flushed. “Just some old lady who got lost. The place she needed to get to wasn’t too far out of my way,” she said. She didn’t get to say anymore as a voice broke through their little circle.

“Ah, I thought I heard someone familiar. Dia-chan, it has been a while.” It was a woman’s voice, light and precise, yet clearly audible through the crowd’s chatter. The trio looked around and their eyes fell upon the owner. She was an older woman for sure, but her actual age was well masked through her subtly-done makeup and the ageless aura of command she wore. With her long, straight dark hair and sharp business suit she cut a severe and competent figure. The entire effect, however, was softened by her smile.

“Ah, Ohara-san,” Dia said, putting on a polite smile over her surprise. “Hello.”

“Your father has been keeping me up to date about your good work,” Ohara said. “But it is quite different from seeing you again after all these years! And of course, you too, Kanan-chan.” She paused at Hanamaru who smiled shyly and bowed.

“I’m Kunikida Hanamaru, zura. Nice ta meet ya, zura.”

If Ohara was surprised by Hanamaru’s interesting speech pattern, she didn’t show it as she returned the greeting. “Of course. I have heard great things about the AZALEA unit. I am Ohara Mitsue,” she said.

Ohara Mitsue had quite a talent at putting people at ease and keeping the conversation running. It was not dissimilar to Kanan’s own friendliness and was a talent Dia, who was forced into quite a bit of political chit-chat because of her father, wished she had often. She could manage up to an extent, but not like either of those two.

It was also why she was so surprised hearing Kanan’s uncharacteristic silence as Ohara talked. Kanan had only met the woman once during a party years ago, but even then the friendly officer had been uncomfortable and speechless, only able to provide perfunctory comments. Hanamaru was doing her best, but she had always preferred the written word than talking to strangers. As the older woman paused and the lull in conversation approached an awkward length, Dia knew she had to be the one to converse with the other woman. She opened her mouth, prepared to add to the conversation.

“ _Shiinyy~_ ”

An aggrieved expression crossed Ohara’s face before it was wiped away and she turned to face a group of three who had arrived beside them.

As the conversation left her and turned away to the newcomers, Hanamaru sighed in relief, taking her time to scan the approaching trio. The blonde in the lead had her hair in an interesting loop at the end of her braid and wore a cute, well-tailored outfit that she thought Ruby would have appreciated if she saw it. The other two were pressed surprisingly close to the blonde at her shoulders and were eyeing the elder woman with mostly concealed distrust. There was a tired-looking red-haired woman and… Hanamaru paused at the third. There was something familiar in the way she held herself (read: posed) as well as the hair bun her dark blue locks were put in.

“Must you always call attention to yourself like this, Mari?” Mitsue chided, drawing Hanamaru’s attention back to the conversation. She fidgeted a little, feeling a bit confused about what was going on.  When she looked at her friends, Dia, at least, looked just as confused. Kanan, however, was staring intently at the blonde with something like recognition in her eyes.

“It must be in my blood,” the blonde replied flippantly. She held out a plain briefcase as her attention strayed over to Kanan, Dia, and then Hanamaru. Her gaze lingered just a little longer than expected for a passing glance at the first two but then the sharp golden gaze, at odds with her easy smile, turned back to Mitsue. “At any rate, here you go. I felt like if we took too long getting this to you, we’d _owe_ you.”

“Well, I approve of your promptness.” Mitsue took the suitcase and turned her attention back to Azalea. There was something calculating in her expression, peeking out from behind her warm smile. “Well, before I leave, I should introduce all of you. This is my daughter, Mari and her… friends, Riko-chan and Yoshiko-chan.” She very deliberately ignored the slight scuffle that arose when Riko elbowed Yoshiko, who grimaced but held her tongue from whatever she had been about to say. “And this is Kunikida Hanamaru-chan, Matsuura Kanan-chan, and Kurosawa Dia-chan.”

“We’ve met,” Mari said. “Well, not Hanamaru-chan.”

Apparently, she was the only one unsurprised by that as even her friends and mother stared at her in surprise.

“Have we?” Dia asked, puzzled herself. She normally remembered most people and she was pretty sure she’d have remembered someone as vivid as the Ohara daughter.

Mari threw an appraising glance her way but then she smiled brightly.

“ _Why of course_ we have~,” she said dramatically. “It was but a brief moment but our lives crossed and the meeting between us three was very _shiny_ like a star! Like _diamonds_ in the sky~” There was a pause as the group processed her pun.

Kanan grinned first. “So, there was a brief encounter and you were _mooning_ over us ever since?” she replied, suppressed laughter in every syllable.

There was a muffled “oh my god” from Riko as Dia turned an expression of betrayal towards her childhood friend.

Mari looked absolutely delighted. Her smile turned sly. “Who wouldn’t? Actually, I never got to ask: did it hurt when you two fell from heaven?”

“It didn't hurt too much, since you were there with us when we fell,” Kanan lobbed back.

“Oh alright,” Yoshiko interrupted, tugging at one of Mari's arms. “I am very sorry about Mari. I think it’s time for us to go.” She addressed the last bit mostly at the quietly vigilant Hanamaru since Dia seemed to have stopped functioning at the unexpected betrayal and Kanan had obviously been willing to play Mari's game.

Mari's mother seemed to have developed a headache if the rubbing on her head was any indication.

“No problem, zura,” Hanamaru replied easily still wondering why Yoshiko seemed so familiar. “I'm glad our friends hit it off so well, zura.”

“Yeah… I’m not sure that’s a good thing,” Yoshiko said, watching Kanan and Mari huddle together.

“Oh yes, before we part ways,” Mitsue said to Dia. “Will you and your father be attending the gala this weekend?”

Dia snapped out of her haze and nodded. “Yes… why?”

“Excellent,” the sharp-eyed woman said briskly. “I have business to discuss… and I’m sure my Mari will be most pleased to meet you once more.” She turned away in obvious dismissal. “Mari!” she called over her shoulder. “We will discuss things in the car. You and your friends shall be my ride back.”

Guilty Kiss was left gaping at her back for a moment before they turned back to Azalea. “It’s a shame we must part once more,” Mari said dramatically. “But duty calls.”

“It was nice… meeting you. Mari,” Kanan said, her normal charm vanishing into something akin to hesitance.

“You too, Kanan,” Mari replied, voice softening. Then she looked away and gave Dia and Hanamaru a cheerful wave and grin before turning to go after her mother. Riko and Yoshiko exchanged glances and then gave their own goodbyes and followed her quickly, the latter taking a couple quick steps and practically leaping on the blonde as she plied her with questions.

“Onee-chan!”

At the high-pitched call, neither Mari nor Yoshiko turned but Riko did. Her eyes caught on two pairs of curious eyes for just a moment before they were covered by a crowd of people passing in between them. Riko blinked and looked away, hurrying to catch up with the other members of Guilty Kiss as she tried to put her mind back to the present rather than wonder about the vibrant pairs of crimson and blue.

Back by the gate, Dia snapped her attention away from the retreating backs and beamed as she caught sight of her sister. Ruby was looking a little tired but she returned Dia’s smile with her own bright one. Her hair was still mussed from sleep and she had forgotten her eye mask which hung off her neck, clashing quite badly with her lovely light pink dress. But most importantly, Ruby was there. Home.

Chika and You were there too.

Dia barely managed a quick greeting at the other two before she gave in and rushed over to Ruby, fussing over her and fixing up her hair.

Hanamaru followed Dia at a more sedate pace, willing to wait before getting her turn with her best friend. She smiled at Chika and You. “Sorry about her,” she said cheerily. “You know how she gets.” Then, judging that Dia had been given enough time, she closed in on her best friend for a gentle but heartfelt hug.

Chika and You just rolled their eyes good-naturedly at Dia and laughed before approaching Kanan. The taller woman held open her arms in invitation. “Welcome home,” she said with a grin and they piled together in a much more ferocious group hug.

“We’re home!”

(-)(-)(-)

“I heard about Lockley,” Mitsue said to Mari from the backseat where they both sat, a contrast of muted straight-backed propriety and casual feline lounging. “I'm glad you made it out fine.”

“And Riko and Yoshiko too?” Mari asked lightly.

“I can't say I'm pleased about your continued association,” her mother said frankly. Her voice softened as she continued, “But, I am glad about their survival if only for your sake.” She threw a glance to the front of the car where Yoshiko and Riko weren’t even trying to hide the fact that they were listening in. “To put your minds at ease, I give you my word that Lockley was not my doing.”

“Then who did it?” Mari wondered, cutting off her friends before they could respond with disbelief.

“That, I do not know,” Mitsue admitted. “Perhaps a bounty hunter or assassin after the generous bounty on the Kurosawa daughter.” She cleared her throat at Mari’s considering nod. “I see you’ve heard about it then. Good. Now, my daughter. What is your plan? I’m sure you heard how the Kurosawas are attending the gala later this week. I will have you attend and I’m sure that opportunity should at least be considered in your plan.”

Mari frowned, eyeing her mother in suspicion. “There is no plan. We’re… probably not taking the job.”

If Ohara Mitsue was surprised, she did not show it, just humming thoughtfully.

“You’re asking as if you thought I would take it,” Mari added. “Why would you even think so? And why would you even want me to? You are allied with the Governor.”

The expression Mitsue made, as if Mari were deliberately playing dumb, made the blonde finally sit up straight. It was an instinctual reaction that she winced mentally about.

“You have rejected the clan time and again for your friends and now you worry about stepping on my toes? Please don’t pretend that was something you considered,” Mitsue chastised. “And I believed you would jump at this job because the price is enough to free all three of you from your debt. You may even be returned to the clan or continue your free life. I know how much you hated us for trapping you as the heir.”

“I… I never hated you or the clan,” Mari said, at a loss to how to respond. “…You're family.”

Mitsue smiled sadly. “‘But we do better, loving each other at a distance,’ yes? I declared this debt as a way to punish you in the clan’s eyes without having to kill you and you have thrived in your new life, performing admirably as a civilian even with our name. Why are you hesitating now at this last step to freedom?”

Outside, the car slowed as they approached a tall, well-lit building in the center of a busy street. It did not look like one of the main buildings used by one of the powerful Yakuza clans of the city but then again, Ohara Mitsue didn’t look like she was the head of that clan either.

“We have never… Our normal set of operations has never involved a person so directly…”

The car came to a stop by the curb.

Mitsue sighed and she reached out to the car door, opening it. She slid out gracefully but turned back to her daughter, considering her words carefully.

“What is it that you really want, Mari? And what are you willing to do for it?”

She didn’t wait for a response. Instead, she gave a nod to the watchful duo at the front of the car and closed the door, walking away without a backwards glance and leaving Mari with a mix of jumbled emotions as she considered the questions left for her to answer.

What is it that she really wanted?

And was she willing to go after Dia and her family for it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the rest of Aqours make their appearances...


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CYaRon, for better or for worse, is changing. The 9 meet again in a much more formal setting. And the people in power play their shadowy games.

Numazu, plain and mostly residential, was not a place with many visitors. To most, it was a rest area: a stopping point for travelers on their way to and from Uchiura. Visitors would pass by the seemingly quiet town, intent on bright lights, vivid lives, and the romance of the sea provided by the neighboring city. The stories of gang wars and brutal politics in Uchiura were just exciting flavors to add to the allure – a dash of far-away danger for spice.

But Numazu’s status as gateway and stepping stone to Uchiura made it a battleground all the same. Rather than bloody conflict (usually), it was fought for with subtle moves and patience in a long-standing waiting game of delicate politics as control shifted back and forth among property lines.

Of the many players, the two strongest kept constant watch, shifting subtly with the people who came to Numazu and the people who left, waiting for their chance to move in.

(The first move began when Kurosawa Akira came to Numazu.

It ended with an offer he could not refuse.)

(-)(-)(-)

“Are you sure you’re okay with it?” You asked as Chika stood in front of the mirror, twisting back and forth to examine herself.

“Well, you both said I couldn’t re-wear the last dress,” Chika pouted. Being close friends with two highly fashionable people, one of whom had made a name for herself in designing clothes, meant Chika was wrangled into very nice, entirely new outfits for each event. She wasn’t too opposed to doing so, but much to her disappointment, the dress for the upcoming gala wasn’t a vibrant mikan-orange color like her last one had been.

She loved that one.

One day she would get to wear it again. It deserved to be worn many, many times.

“I’m not talking about the dress.” You sounded exasperated, but only as a brief aside. Her best friend’s oblivious shenanigans could not distract her from her main focus. “I mean my new assignment.”

 “Oh, that.” Chika grinned easily. “No problem! We’ll still be living together and we can meet up during our free time!”

“…That’s it?”

“Yeah!” Chika paused and twisted her head to look at You. “Should I have a problem with it?” she asked quizzically. “I mean, it’s not like you’re leaving me forever and having an agent in your position is important in the long run.”

“Y-yeah. That’s true,” You said. She pasted on a grin and beamed it back. “You’re right!”

“Yeah, so no need to worry!” Chika smiled reassuringly before changing the subject. “Now about this dress, do you think you can add a little mikan right here?”

As Chika pointed at her dress, You nodded along gamely, trying to ignore the small bubble of disappointment at Chika’s lack of reaction to the loss of their long-standing partnership.

Perhaps this really was the right thing to do…

(-)(-)(-)

The laughter coming out of the living room was more than a little diabolical and Riko stopped dead on her way to the kitchen. The light spilling out into the hallway from the room was also not the expected gold of late morning sunlight, but a darker orange color and it was flickering concerningly.

Riko considered the obvious merits of turning around and going back to her room in blissful ignorance but curiosity drove her forward and she very slowly poked her head around the doorway to see what her teammates were up to.

The low table was a mess of craft supplies and paper as well as what looked to be a mostly complete miniature model building. Riko correctly guessed it was a to-scale display of the building that was to host the upcoming gala. That was the normal part of the entire scene.

What _wasn’t_ normal was how the shutters were shut so that the only source of light came from the dozens of lit candles placed around the clear space between the couch area and the piano at the other corner of the room. The imminent fire hazards, at least, were placed in positions as far away from the nearest flammable surfaces as possible. Standing in the center stood two black cloaked figures.

They were still laughing.

“Um. _What is going on?_ ” Riko asked loudly.

The laughter cut off and two shadowy faces were turned her way.

“It worked!” Yoshiko crowed, pushing back her hood. “Yohane's spell has opened a portal that we may use to cross to the other realm!”

“…What.”

Mari took off her cloak, letting it pool on the floor. She bounded towards Riko, her hand outstretched. Behind her, Yoshiko rapidly went to the nearest candle and put it out with the ease of long practice. Then, a phone was thrust to Riko’s face and her eyes crossed to keep the device in her sight before she raised a hand and pushed the phone back to a visible distance.

Amber eyes scanned the message displayed on the phone. It was from someone named Watanabe You inviting the trio directly to join the gala and its accompanying charity event. Riko finished reading and then focused on the gleeful expression on Mari’s face. Sunlight flooded the room as Yoshiko finished vanishing her “ritual implements” and opened the shutters. Distracted briefly, Riko’s gaze shifted to look past Mari to the equally excited Yoshiko standing innocently by the table with not a candle in sight. Riko blanched. “Oh no.”

“Oh yes,” Yoshiko shot back with a grin. “We're coming to the gala too.”

Riko began backing up but Mari’s hand came down deceptively lightly on her shoulder and pulled her to a halt. “It’ll be better this way! Now you won’t have to loiter outside or huddle in the car with just Yoshiko-chan for company while I enjoy the fancy food and company.”

“It’s Yohane!”

“I think I’d prefer just staying outside, honestly.”

Mari rolled her eyes. “Both of you will attend the gala with me. It’ll be better that way.” Her voice became soft. “I still don’t know what my mother is planning and it would be safer to have you two with me.”

Mari’s words trailed away near the end but Riko understood and she nodded after a moment’s hesitation. The other two whooped in success. Riko smiled at them but it faded as a new thought crossed her mind. “But… what are we going to do about the Kurosawas? Are we actually going to… you know?”

Mari hesitated. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “The pay is... quite substantial. And the offer is even higher if we deliver her alive. We won’t have to worry about the debt anymore. And then we will be free.”

The other two nodded at that. “So, if we take her at the gala, we can hold her a few days to hash out delivery plans and then it’ll be over,” Riko said softly, almost awed at the thought.

“I am quite certain we had a lot more trouble with that job taking that one giant statue,” Mari mused. All three frowned at the memory.

“Except we’re going to be… ‘stealing’ a person who is _alive_ ,” Yoshiko stressed, returning to the matter at hand.

“Abduction is really not something we’ve put on our repertoire,” Mari agreed. She paused. “Yet. But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt us to prepare as if we were going to.”

“We can prepare all we want, but when it comes down to actually taking her, can we really do it?” Yoshiko muttered doubtfully.

“I… think we can. At least, I’m willing to,” Riko replied, voice low. When the others paused and looked at her with some surprise, she started to pace listlessly, going back and forth along the windows overlooking the city and the bay.

It was a beautiful scene with sunlight shimmering across buildings, cars, and the water. It looked almost like a painting of another world.

But the light did nothing for the lines of exhaustion lingering in Riko, the remnants of insomnia that they had all experienced at one time or another. “We’ve lived job after job for the past several years trying to make up for what we’ve done,” she reminded them, stopping to stare out at the tiny cars and people bustling down the streets.

Yoshiko looked away, face twisting up but Mari kept her eyes on Riko, watching her murmur at the skyline, “Aren't you tired? Of all this?”

Out of all of them, Riko had been the least likely to become a criminal; she had the least reason to _stay_ a criminal.

(Until that one day that had branded them with blood and regret.)

And now here was their exit ticket.

A simple way out.

It was a tempting offer. They could get money to pay off their debt to Mari’s family. They could get money to pay for their other families and perhaps move them to somewhere safer. They could get the money to give themselves an actual future beyond constantly ducking from the law.

But there was one thing they could not say—could not acknowledge:

That no matter how much money they collected, it could not pay off the debt of blood from their hands.

If they admitted that truth, where would that leave them?

(-)(-)(-)

The morning before the gala, Ruby opened the door to her and her sister’s shared home to see You and Chika standing outside, the former holding a bolt of cloth and the latter several steps behind chatting enthusiastically with Kanan and Hanamaru.

“Who is it?” Dia called from behind Ruby.

“Chika-chan and You-chan,” Ruby called back as she stepped aside to let You in. Chika bounded up soon after and followed You into the home. For a moment, she looked like she wanted to quickly jump You, a mischievous grin on her face but then she faltered and looked away, taking her time in toeing off her shoes at the entrance instead.

“Oh,” Dia said flatly as she appeared and took in the sight of cloth in You’s arms. “Is that for the gala? No, that can’t be. I know you finished all your last adjustments yesterday.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “You kept Ruby up quite late trying to make her add more mikan... themes. You should know that she needs her beauty sleep.”

“Onee-chan…” Ruby sighed.

“Don’t worry, Dia-san,” Chika said brightly, undeterred by the lawyer’s harsh glare and both You and Ruby’s frantic shushing motions. “This is an entirely different project! If she’s staying up, it won’t be for my gala dress.”

For some reason, that didn’t convince Dia that her sister was in safe hands and the glare managed to harden even further.

“It’s okay, Onee-chan,” Ruby rushed to add before Chika could meet her unfortunate demise. “I’ll make sure to rest, but you should go before Kanan-chan and Hanamaru-chan break down the door for you.”

Dia hmphed but agreed, throwing one last Look at the duo and one last smile at Ruby before sweeping out the door to where her teammates were waiting.

“Sometimes I wonder how you ever survived the academy before I had to go and join you there,” You murmured to Chika.

You was looking away so she missed the way Chika’s face fell at the comment, but Ruby didn’t. She looked between the two of them uncertainly. There had been an uneasy sort of tension between the two of them since You had told them of her new assignment.

Sometimes, the two were as in sync as they always were and the tension seemed like a strange dream, but sometimes it returned, putting a space between the duo that Ruby had no idea how to fill.

Or even if she could.

The gaps between Chika and You were not the only ones that had formed in the last couple months.

All three of them were pulling apart.

There were secrets burning at their edges – like Ruby’s reason for meeting with her team at odd hours of the day or night, eyes dark with new knowledge. And You’s reason behind the sudden and unexplained change in her role. And Chika’s reason for her back and forth teetering between trying to pull them together and grimly pushing the team apart herself.

In their line of work, confidentiality, and even secrecy, were the most important aspects of what they did. Even the members of _AZALEA_ did not know their real jobs. And while the members of CYaRon knew when the other members had to keep knowledge private, there had never been any _real_ secrets between them.

And now there were.

Secrets that seeped past closed lips and into every action they performed.

Something had to give.

And the worst part was that despite it all, despite the fact that this fracturing of CYaRon was hurting and awkward, Ruby had the feeling that none of them knew which side would be chosen: the secrets or the truths.

Chika laughed softly, nudging You’s shoulder before turning away. “Yeah,” she agreed ruefully. She walked deeper into Ruby’s home. “I don’t know either.”

(-)(-)(-)

The evening of the gala fell, and for the first time in a while, so did the temperature. Hanamaru was thankful for the mild cooldown because her dress uniform always made her feel hot and stuffy even in the best of days. She wholeheartedly celebrated each degree she was cooler.

Fancy wear in general made her uncomfortable, as if she were a fraudulent pauper pretending to be a prince. That this was a political soiree multiplied her discomfort. The opulent mansion they were in currently, which had very obvious Western-inspired architecture and probably costed more than Hanamaru would ever earn in several lifetimes, made the feeling exponentially worse.

Still, Hanamaru adjusted to the gleaming surfaces and gleaming furniture and, well, gleaming everything. She had to, as she patrolled the rooms and got a feel for how the event was laid out. She couldn’t provide good protection for Dia and everyone otherwise if she were distracted by the marble and gold and crystal everywhere.

Hanamaru ended up in the first floor’s ballroom, where the main event would take place. There were even more things glittering as light from the high-hanging chandelier glinted off of smaller circular tables with starched white tablecloths and well-polished cutlery, longer tables along the sides with food and drinks in silver and glass containers, and elegant streaks of gold in the walls and floor. A live orchestra gently weaved music through the chatter filling the room.

This was an event by rich people for rich people.

Hanamaru’s keen eyes also noticed certain _divisions_ in the attendees of the gala. There were the many wealthy people who mingled among each other but there were still gaps as groups of those who came from “Old Money” separated from newer fortunes. But then there were those few who, like Hanamaru, had little fortune and stayed in tiny groups, uncomfortable in their fancy clothes that showed just the slightest hint of wear and tear.

The brunette sighed a little and tapped a nearby officer who would replace her for the time being. She caught sight of her friends after a quick scan of the room past the many people filling up the place and made her way over.

While Hanamaru was in a dress uniform, the others were wearing more personalized attire, like Ruby’s tastefully tiered ball gown with a cute pink flower brooch, or, in Chika’s case, several subtly placed mikan pins. Slightly different from the others, Kanan was wearing a suit. She was on duty as a plainclotheswoman and had not wanted to protect Dia in a dress and high heels, preferring the ease of movement she got instead.

 None of her friends were willing to point out that her attire would definitely give her that ease of movement but would also not help in denying the rumors floating about in regard to her and Dia’s relationship. Neither, Hanamaru noticed, were Dia’s very obvious glances at the blue-haired woman when she thought no one was looking.

Hanamaru thought it was quite cute.

But even Dia’s fascination with Kanan in a suit couldn’t stop her from looking increasingly harassed by the knowledge that her every move was being watched even by her friends. The lawyer understood that she was in danger, but she also treasured her privacy and hated that she was forced to be protected, feeling that she was admitting to “losing” to the criminal elements that were after her.

Hanamaru could understand Dia’s frustration, but neither she nor Kanan nor any of the rest could help it—it was Dia. The woman was so concerned about protecting and caring for other people that she never remembered to worry about herself. Her friends and family _had_ to pick up the slack.

As everyone decided to split up for a bit, Hanamaru waved and slid back into the crowd to do a quick round of the room.

The time passed by seemingly in a flash and before she knew it, she was by the wall again trying to resist the urge to fidget with her uniform. Hanamaru took a moment to scan the crowd for her friends.

Ruby was nearby, faltering her way through conversation with an elderly man with a hawkish gaze. Chika had taken up a position by the punch bowl and had managed to ensnare an elderly couple that looked reluctantly charmed by her exuberance. You was lost in the crowd, and Dia and Kanan…

She found the black-haired lawyer and her blue-haired shadow just in time for their eyes to meet and for Dia to frown discontentedly at the reminder that she was being watched as Hanamaru shrugged sheepishly. She hoped Dia would survive the constant attention—the event hadn’t even officially started after all so they still had hours to go.

A shrill ‘pigii’ caught her attention and she turned away, already moving towards the source of the sound and wondering what had startled her best friend this time. Ruby might be shy, but her life as Governor Kurosawa’s daughter had at least taught her how to reasonably navigate the social niceties required in these events.

Hanamaru arrived at the source of the disturbance to see Ruby looking a little lost as she glanced down at a little boy who looked about 10 years old or so hiding behind her. His head poked out as he glared sullenly at one of the officers on duty who seemed to be trying to catch him.

Before Hanamaru could speak, someone else did, appearing out of the crowd without a hair out of place and a friendly, calming smile. “Sorry for the trouble, officer,” You said, moving to stand near the boy. “He’s not a random kid that snuck in. He’s here to help me speak today and I made sure everything was approved.”

The officer hesitated but then he nodded shortly when he saw Hanamaru. “Watch out for the kid, then,” he said gruffly. “Make sure he doesn’t wander off.” He bowed in farewell and departed.

Once he was gone, the kid peeked out, giving a delighted, childish laugh as he stuck out his tongue at the stiff back of the officer. You sighed and rolled her eyes. “Uchicchi,” she chided. “We talked about being polite here.”

“W-well, he is just a child,” Ruby said with an awkward shrug. She met Hanamaru’s eyes and beamed in greeting, a sentiment the brunette returned happily.

“No, he’s a menace,” You said fondly, reaching out behind Ruby and presumably ruffling his hair.

“Yeah!” The kid sounded pleased at the assessment.

While the duo didn’t seem to mind the judging stares and whispers from around them, Hanamaru did, and she shifted nervously before frowning just a bit at the nearest person who met her gaze. _Never seen a child before?_ She thought and saw the eyes start to glance away, chastised by her look.

Finally, the boy seemed to notice Hanamaru and he stepped out fully to face her. He was a chubby boy dressed in a suit he had either gotten second hand or owned for a long while. It was just a little bit too big for him and Hanamaru could see several spots where the threadwork was worn and fraying. Clothes like his were familiar if only because for a long time, Hanamaru had also worn similar clothes. But he didn’t seem to mind; he was looking around with a gap-toothed grin as he shook himself and made his brown fluffy hair even more wild than it already was.

There was a buzz of nervous anticipation about him that both Ruby and You seemed to have caught on to and were doing their best to soothe. He also looked wary of Hanamaru in her uniform but he calmed when she smiled at him as well and made no move to come in close.

“This is Yotsuba Ushio,” You introduced, keeping a wary hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Everyone calls him Uchicchi though. He’s going to help me speak tonight to get some donations for the Crime and Youth Recuperation Foundation on behalf of the governor.”

When Hanamaru caught Uchicchi mirroring her look of disgust at the mention of public speaking, she chuckled. “Do you hate public speaking too?” she asked. “Are you nervous, zura?”

“I ain’t nervous,” he said, puffing out his chest and fooling no one. “It’s just a few stupid words anyways.”

“Maybe you can get Chika-chan to teach him,” Ruby suggested hopefully. “She, uh, never has that kind of trouble talking to people.”

Something dark flitted across You’s face before she smiled. “I’m sure she’s too busy right now for a tutoring session. Uchicchi can manage without her.”

Ruby’s face fell at the refusal.

“Yeah I can!” Uchicchi chimed in, ignorant of the tension.

Hanamaru sidled closer to You, frowning. “Is something wrong between the two of you?” she asked, her voice low.

Again, that flash of expression. “No, everything’s the same,” You said evenly. “You know, maybe I will have Uchicchi meet her.”

So saying, she directed Uchicchi into the crowd and away. Notably, it was in the opposite direction of the punch bowl that Chika was still very obviously at. Hanamaru drew back and turned a confused glance to Ruby. What had that been about?

Ruby hesitated and then shook her head, unwilling to divulge. Her green eyes were weary and a little sad.

Whatever it was that was tearing those two apart, she could not share. But the redhead reached out a hand and linked fingers with Hanamaru briefly in comfort, silently telling her, “Don’t worry.”

Hanamaru nodded, squeezing the hand lightly in acknowledgement. They would be fine.

(-)(-)(-)

When Yoshiko entered the ballroom, she could almost see a wave ripple across the room as the people nearest did a double-take. She grinned back at them, showing teeth, and they looked away uncomfortably. Mari swept into the room beside her looking quite at ease but Yoshiko could hear Riko's grumbles from behind as she tried to keep as far away from her friends as she dared, not wanting to truly separate from them but not wanting to be caught in the eye-catching existence of her fellows.

To be fair, in a sea of glittering pale pastels and vivid, beautiful hues, Mari's deep violet stood out just enough to draw admiring glances, but Yoshiko's black gothic dress was like a slap in the face. A low murmur of conversation was left in their wake as they made their way through.

As the trio made their way to the nearest snack table, Yoshiko's eyes met wide green ones. The owner visibly gulped at Yoshiko's curious gaze and leapt behind Kurosawa Dia, who had been standing beside her. Kurosawa Ruby, the younger sister and acclaimed clothes designer. She seemed to be a bit of a mouse, Yoshiko thought. Shy, almost adorably so, but all Yoshiko could really see was some of her red hair and flashes of her eyes peeking from behind the elder Kurosawa and mice usually didn't become little demons no matter how cute.

“Wow, zura,” someone said, cutting in between the trio and the Kurosawas. “They let you in looking like that?”

Yoshiko spluttered in indignation even as Mari laughed and Riko covered her own smile. Pouting, Yoshiko went to snap something back when the mouse peeked out from behind Hanamaru.

“W-well, her dress i-is very high quality,” Ruby said quietly. She might have been shy, but her eyes inspected Yoshiko with the confidence of an expert. Then she ‘eep’-ed and ducked behind Hanamaru, hampered by the fact that the brunette was actually smaller than her. Beside them, Dia and Kanan approached and greeted Mari and Riko.

“Ku ku ku,” Yoshiko cackled. “Of course it is. The Fallen Angel Yohane requires the best of materials—”

“Excuse me,” a woman said with delicate disdain, cutting her off. Immediately, Dia and Mari stiffened, their backs straightening and political masks sliding over their features as they very politely, almost humbly, greeted the newcomer. A moment later, everyone else mirrored their actions.

Yoshiko bowed politely as well, copying the others before she could even think about it and when she straightened, she finally took in the woman and understood.

Her first thought was, _oh it’s the former prime minister._

Then it was followed by, _oh shit, the AZALEA unit_ and _Prime Minister Minami?_ But Yoshiko clamped down on the flash of panic. This probably wasn’t a trap to snag Guilty Kiss. She was just paranoid from the information they had scrounged up earlier about the things AZALEA had pulled off. She chanced a look at the others and neither Riko nor Mari were broadcasting panic so Yoshiko relaxed minutely, deciding instead to look more closely at the former prime minister.

Minami was nothing like the warm and approachable woman she could remember from media in her youth. Instead, she seemed to be from the same other plane as Ohara Mitsue; they shared the same composed confidence that came with power and money. But where the Ohara hid her sharpness behind smiles and an ethereal agelessness, Minami was all tall edges and aged silver hair and unveiled calculation as she looked at the people before her.

And, Yoshiko noticed, there wasn’t anything close to suspicion or threat towards Guilty Kiss.

She also noted with interest how the expression became more neutral when Minami looked upon Mari and the Kurosawas, apparently judging them (or possibly their parents) as passable. But, when it came to the others, she obviously dismissed all of them, nose turning up with condescension. Yoshiko had the feeling that the woman was actually allowing them to see these judgements cross her face and that she didn’t care to hide it.

To be fair, even having retired from her post as prime minister, she probably had more power and influence than any family in the room… even the one Yoshiko knew was currently heading one of the biggest criminal enterprises in the country. Minami was just that rich and well-known.

“Imagine my surprise,” Minami said lightly, “When I recognized most everyone in this room but then found Governor Kurosawa’s daughter and Mitsue-san’s daughter interacting with the people I did not recognize.”

“I have a sister,” Dia said frostily, though judging by Ruby’s expression, said sister wished she had remained forgotten when Minami’s gaze zeroed in on her. The baby Kurosawa stepped out from behind her sister fully and politely bowed with a murmured greeting.

“Ah yes, I saw you earlier jumping about like an uncivilized animal with some young boy,” Minami smiled sharply. “Is that the reason your father never talks about you, I wonder? A brat out of wedlock? Such a stain on the family name.”

There were several gasps and Yoshiko exchanged alarmed looks with her teammates as the accusation rocketed the hostility in the air. On the very edges of her periphery she could see side glances among the wealthy attendees nearest to them and whispers begin to spread.

What in the nine hells was happening?

Kanan looked like she would have liked to jump forward and punch the woman while Hanamaru began to shake with suppressed rage. The younger Kurosawa gritted her teeth and somehow stood strong, and it was Dia who snapped, fury blazing. “You little—”

“Onee-chan, _don’t_ ,” Ruby whispered, putting her hand on her sister’s arm. Against all odds, the raven-haired woman held herself back.

“Excuse us, Minami-san, zura,” Hanamaru said stiffly. “But this is a charity event, zura, not one to... spread slander. Perhaps you’d like to try the truffles instead, zura. They’re very good.”

Minami didn’t even deign to look at the officer. “The help should not be seen or heard,” she said dismissively. “Go back to your duties, girl.” She frowned severely at the Kurosawa siblings. “Is this what the Kurosawa family has lowered itself to? Mingling with the great unwashed? Did you just pull her right off the slums?”  

Hanamaru flinched as if struck, sucking in a breath. Beside her, baby Kurosawa hunched and Yoshiko half expected her to scamper away—maybe hide once more behind the furious wall that was her older sister.

But the mouse didn’t scurry away. Instead, Kurosawa Ruby inhaled and straightened up. Her green eyes brightened with rage. Very briefly, her hands curled into fists before loosening as she stared unblinkingly at the woman who had, with seemingly no provocation, attacked her, her family, and now her best friend. The Ruby that Yoshiko had first seen was gone, replaced by someone fiercer.

“You were a public figure for a long time,” Ruby said. Her voice was still soft, but there was no hint of a stutter and there was a firm confidence that made all of them lean in to _listen_. “And there were two things you never compromised on: support for the needy and rooting out crime. And I know that hasn’t changed. I saw you just a few days ago stop by to help out at a homeless shelter that was to be closed down… I heard they got quite a donation.” She smiled. “You did not seem too concerned about ‘the great unwashed’ then, did you?”

Minami was so thrown, she started to nod in recognition before she stopped herself and stared with undisguised surprise at the woman gazing seriously back. Then she shook her head slowly. “You… must have been mistaken,” she said.

Ruby stepped forward until they were eye to eye, barely a hands-length away from each other. Her gaze was undeterred and disbelieving. “Now, Hanamaru-chan may have come from a less than stellar city environment, but after she and Onee-chan and Kanan-chan began working at the police force, there was an _80%_ increase in closed cases.” Her eyes were intent, seemingly forgetting everyone else around them. “Just a week ago, they put one of the biggest crime bosses of the city into jail, breaking up a gang terrorizing the south side.”

“I don’t know why you are attacking Hanamaru-chan or my family, but just know that all you are doing right now is sounding like a liar and a hypocrite.”

She fell silent and there was a beat of silence. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the confidence faltered and Ruby ducked her head. “S-so please, uh, leave Hanamaru-chan alone.”

Despite her faltering final words, she had managed to shatter the icy mask that Minami had worn. The former prime minister retreated a step, blinked, and then smiled slowly, hostility vanishing. “Well well well,” she murmured. “I am impressed.” She paused and then bowed deeply. “I apologize for my words earlier, they were uncalled for and untrue.” She straightened.

There was a flash—a blink-and-you’d-miss-it moment—where Minami’s mouth moved just a bit as she whispered something else that Yoshiko could not catch. Something that caused Ruby to twitch before she regained her composure. Then Minami continued, smooth as glass, “You are much like your father, Kurosawa Ruby-san.”

So saying, she swept away without a backwards glance.

Yoshiko frowned and watched her go before she turned back to see the younger Kurosawa being fussed over by her sister and her other friends. None of them seemed to have noticed the whispered words.

After a moment, Yoshiko put aside her curiosity for an impressed smile as she watched the traces of the fiery woman hide once more behind a shy blush. _Well hello there, Kurosawa Ruby_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have Ruby’s evolution from small animal to human being, some ChikaYou (and CYaRon) drama, and Uchicchi. I actually really struggled with CYaRon’s dynamic. Like the other groups, they have lots of good history of working together, but theirs is a group I felt had the most surprisingly sharp edges that I could explore.
> 
> Finally, most of the framework has been set up and the story is finally really kicking off to the meat of what I want. We’ll see if I manage to convey all of this well, eh?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guilty Kiss makes their decision. They’re also kind of gay.

Once everyone relaxed back into the party’s cheerful atmosphere, they split into smaller groups, though still within arms distance of each other.

Riko hovered uncertainly, feeling like an outsider as she looked between the two available groups.

There was Mari who was practically hanging off Dia and Kanan as she deftly swapped the worry lingering in their expressions for amusement with easy jokes and smiles. (“Why has this turned into us babysitting Ohara-san?” Dia asked with no heat. “So cruel, Di~a~” “She means she likes you,” Kanan assured Mari with a not-so-hidden grin.)

Just an arms-length away, Yoshiko was full Fallen Angel Yohane, posing in front of an innocently captivated Ruby and a less-than-impressed Hanamaru. (“Actually, I was cast down from Heaven for my incredible beauty.” “I don’t think I’ve ever met a fallen angel before.” “Ruby-chan, I doubt any word in that sentence was true, zura…”)

Despite Hanamaru’s disdain, she was still watching Yoshiko with curiosity.

Riko took a private moment to pre-emptively mourn the loss of their unspoken partnership of sanity. Curiosity was the first step in the slippery slope down to becoming a little demon, she knew very well. “Riri” hadn’t come out of nowhere after all.

“I’m going to get some food,” Riko announced.

Her teammates' eyes snapped to her direction but she assuaged their concern with a smile. She wasn’t going to stray too far and she _could_ take care of herself. When neither of them tried to discourage her, Riko turned away and inched past a crowd of people drily discussing business. Apparently, the recent rise in tourism had been a boon for the mikan industry.

The nearest table was awash with food, but only appetizers and sweets in artfully arranged piles (and a punch bowl). Riko wasn’t sure she had ever seen that many treats in one place, and she had lived with _Ohara Mari_ for years.

Curious about what was available, Riko stepped forward only to barely avoid crashing into another person with a hastily stifled yelp. “I’m sorr-y,” Riko said, the final syllable of her apology coming out more as a gasp as she took in the woman in front of her.

Riko knew who Watanabe You was—curiosity and a bit of paranoia had ensured Guilty Kiss had done a quick investigation of the person who had invited them to the event—but the picture they had found did not do her justice.

The picture had been a bland portrait shot: clean enough to note that she had gray hair and blue eyes, but not enough to capture the way her face seemed to gleam with warm cheer even as she apologized as well about the almost-crash.

“Sorry about that!” You said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. Riko’s eyes followed her well-defined arms, bare in her strapless, pale blue dress. “I wasn’t looking—”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Riko refuted. “I wasn’t looking where I was going either.”

Before Riko could fall into silent awkwardness, two things happened: something impacted her legs and torso and someone else behind You called out, “You-chan, wait up!” from nearby. Riko chose to look down to see a familiar, beaming gap-toothed smile.

“Riko-san!” Uchicchi said excitedly. “You’re here!”

Riko gaped at him. “Uchicchi! I—” She stopped herself, swallowing back her shock. “Of course I am. We couldn’t stay away when we knew you’d be here.” She stepped back a bit to look at him, the way he was beaming up at her without a hint of accusation. How he _stood_ …

When Uchicchi’s look became too much, Riko glanced up to see You and another woman with orange hair standing next to each other. You looked just a touch uncomfortable while the other kept glancing You’s way, sad and worried in turns before it vanished into a sincere, cheerful smile when her crimson eyes met Riko’s.

“Wow! You’re beautiful!” she exclaimed.

Riko blinked. She opened her mouth to say something and then paused. “Thank you,” she finally ventured shyly.

“You’re the Riko-san that Uchicchi kept talking about, I suppose?” You said, rescuing her from the exuberant woman. The crimson-eyed woman shifted, the folds of her dress glittering with her movements and Riko caught a glimpse of what looked like stylized mikan buttoned along her waist. “I’m Watanabe You and this is my-” just the faintest of hesitation “-friend Takami Chika-chan. I’ll be speaking for the Crime and Youth Recuperation Foundation today with Uchicchi’s help and I invited you and the other two because Uchicchi insisted.”

“R-right. That’s the group that’s been helping Uchicchi after the… you know,” Riko’s voice fell and she glanced down to the boy who was peering around her body, searching.

“Yes, your donation was a godsend,” You murmured, glancing at Uchicchi to make sure he was still distracted. “We weren’t getting much support, but with your donation, we started making progress for those affected by that bombing.”

“You-chan’s great! She’ll really help out people like Uchicchi,” Chika piped up.

The tension faded from You’s body as she cast an embarrassed look at Chika. “Heh, well, it’s not much, really. Uchicchi’s great,” You mumbled.

Riko smiled. “I—well all of us really—appreciate the work you do,” she said sincerely. She glanced away. She didn’t like making promises, but… “We hope to get enough money for another major donation soon.” Then, before they could ask anything, she looked down at the fidgeting boy. “You’re not making too much trouble for You-san, are you?” she asked jokingly and he pouted back.

“No way!” He squinted at some nearby ladies. “Where’re Yohane-san and Mari-san?”

“I can take you to them in a bit,” Riko glanced at You and Chika. There was something about their earnest expressions, so easily friendly that she didn’t want to return just yet.

As if sensing her hesitation and the underlying reason, Chika spoke up. “Before you do that, how about we get some of the food to share with everyone? It’s all super delicious!”

“They have a lot of snacks to try out,” You added.

“Y-yeah,” Riko nodded. “I did come over here to take a look anyways.”

Two grins, bright and warm, were sent her way. “Okay!” You exclaimed, grabbing Riko quick as a flash. A quick tug and Chika latched on Riko’s other arm and together, with Uchicchi’s giggles, they headed off to the food. “Let’s get some of everything!”

“Ehhh?”

(-)(-)(-)

They were like two binary stars, constantly pulling the other one way or the other but always (forever) together. Chika, who never settled in one thing for long would go haring off to a new path of life and You would inevitably follow. But You would eventually pull Chika back when she stretched too far.

It was a dance they performed since they were children… this should have been no different.

But now there were stumbles and missteps. The gravity between the two had shifted and when You stepped away to work as part of Governor Kurosawa's staff, Chika had not pulled her back.

_What did it mean,_ Chika wondered, _that You was always the one pulled in my wake?_ _She left her dream for me._

Years ago, when You had been on her way to becoming a naval officer and ship captain, she had changed her path to join Chika in becoming a normal officer instead. To protect their city like Kanan had chosen to do.

_Have I been the one pulling (holding) her back?_

So when You had taken a step towards a separate path, Chika just smiled, ignoring the unwarranted hurt and fear bubbling in her chest. You was chasing her shine and perhaps it was time for Chika to do so too.

If their paths had to separate to do so, well, Chika couldn't hold You back forever.

(And how did Sakurauchi Riko, with her shy smile and searching amber gaze, slide so easily into their dance?)

(-)(-)(-)

After Mari wormed her way into comfortable conversation with Kanan and Dia for a couple minutes, she started taking note of the lingering glances they threw each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking. It wasn’t a lonely feeling; she felt just as included. Perhaps it had something to do with the warm smiles Kanan also sent her way or how Dia protested at Mari’s affectionate cuddling but never actually leaned away.

So, with much curiosity, she asked, “Are you two dating?”

And watched as Kanan flushed a miraculous crimson and Dia’s eyes bulged.

“N-no!” the former croaked. “I’m just protecting her!”

Mari blinked. _Ah_ , she realized swiftly. _With the recent bomb threat, it makes sense._ Not wanting the conversation to fall into _that_ pit, Mari just pasted on a teasing grin. “Ooh, so it’s like ‘princess and bodyguard’ roleplay?” she waggled her eyebrows.

“O-o-of course not! It is just Kanan being overprotective,” Dia hissed, her own blush visible high on her cheeks.

Mari tilted her head as she recalled this particular facet of Dia’s personality. _Stubborn_ , she thought half-fondly, half-exasperatedly. _Her stubbornness only grows more so under pressure._ Golden eyes moved over to the sister who had just proven herself surprisingly similar.

Currently, said sister and the other two were glancing over at their group with some concern.

Mari inched towards them conspiratorially, moving the two blushing women with her since she was still holding onto them. “So, _are_ they actually dating?” she asked Ruby and Hanamaru even as Yohane smirked at the chaos her friend was causing.

“They aren’t, but a lot of people think so too, zura,” Hanamaru said truthfully and without any inkling that what she was saying could be embarrassing.

Ruby threw a regretful look at her sister and Dia only had time to widen her eyes before Ruby—cute, innocent Ruby—executed the ultimate betrayal and said, “There’s a betting pool about it. I know how you can join if you want.”

No one who had ever met Dia would have believed her of being able to ‘scurry’ but her resemblance to her little sister was clear as she withdrew from Mari’s grasp, stuttered something unintelligible, and then scurried away into the crowd as everyone watched her go with varying levels of amusement.

Mari exchanged glances with Kanan and tilted her head in amused question. The violet-eyed woman, still blushing, just looked confused. Then her expression changed as she realized that her charge had escaped and she muttered a curse before hurrying off after Dia.

The blonde was left with her mind pondering the connection she still felt with the other two and what that meant for her resolve when Riko reappeared from the crowd along with lots of sweets, some new friends, and a small, familiar face. Mari’s heart lurched even as she grinned at the boy who posed at Yohane, much to her pleasure, and then wrapped Mari’s waist in a hug.

“Hi Uchicchi!”

(-)(-)(-)

Several minutes later, neither Dia nor Kanan were back and Hanamaru had departed to patrol, the barest hint of a frown twisting the edge of her lips. Everyone else in their group packed themselves into a single circular table that had quickly been filled up with a wide variety of delicious-looking food from juicy chunks of steak to slices of roasted duck. Most of the group had dug in eagerly as they chatted, most of which involved Yoshiko attempting to convert You and Chika to the dark side as Riko rolled her eyes and snuck in comments.

Meanwhile Ruby, who had gotten a plate of food for her sister, sat quietly just barely at the edge of the loud group as she poked at her own meal, only pausing sometimes to give half-hearted smiles at Yoshiko’s shenanigans.

Mari withdrew from egging Yoshiko on and edged over her seat to join the redhead. “Are you not hungry, Ruby-chan?” Mari asked.

“H-huh?” Ruby looked up, blinking. She shrugged after processing the question. “Just a lot on my mind…”

“About your sister… or about what Minami-san said to you near the end?” Mari asked carefully.

Ruby flinched minutely and looked up wide-eyed at Mari. “You heard that?”

The blonde nodded. “I was close enough,” she explained vaguely. She leaned over, voice dropping even lower to make sure no one could overhear. “Ruby-chan, are you and Dia part of—?”

Ruby shook her head jerkily, cutting Mari off. “No,” she murmured, voice quiet but stern—a glimpse at how she had been earlier when facing down Minami. Her eyes flickered over to where You and Chika were completely distracted by something Yoshiko had said that had caused Riko to blush brilliantly. Once she was sure they were all distracted, she looked back. “Onee-chan… isn’t aware of our families’ dealings,” she said softly. “I have much learned in her stead.”

Then she looked down, her jaw clamping shut with enough force that Mari knew she wouldn't be getting anything else from her. The blonde bit back a startled flinch, thrown by what she had just learned, and then gave Ruby's shoulder a brief squeeze in comfort before settling back to think.

Near the raised platform where the orchestra was performing, a man caught the attention of the crowd and began speaking. It was time for the main event—in other words, a lot of speeches. Mari would normally listen with some interest, always curious about the different methods speech-makers utilized. But instead, Mari’s eyes wandered, idly scanning the room as her mind churned.

_“Such criminal company you keep,”_ Minami had murmured to Ruby earlier. _“You are much like your father.”_

So Dia did not know about her father's connections to the Yakuza… but Ruby _did_. She even had her own connections to the underworld if Minami was to be believed. Perhaps the connection was actually Hanamaru? Then again, the officer had seemed as honest as they come and Mari was quite discerning when it came to judging character.

And. Well. Mari knew criminals. She had lived with them her entire life.

But most important was that final comment Ruby had muttered, full of a pressure Mari had lived most of her life with.

The Kurosawa name was a weighty one and despite the accolades the younger Ruby had earned for her clothing designs, her sister had been the evident choice as inheritor of the name. But it was _Ruby_ that knew the full extent of the connections her family name invoked—

There was a political game occurring, Mari now realized, that was far more shadowy than it had seemed at first glance.

The introductory speech and several other speeches went by, but the only one Mari even partly listened to was the one by You and her favorite fluffy-haired assistant. The crowd had loved Uchicchi’s contribution too and clapped happily as he waved goodbye, ushered out of the gala with high spirits and equally enthusiastic yawns.

By the time the speech after You’s had finished droning on, Mari’s mind turned to the missing people and she bit back a concerned frown. She had taken note of the officers throughout the room, of course. A couple were attempting to blend in with the crowd while others patrolled by moving subtly along the edges of the room. But only now, with her mind actually focusing on them, did she notice something amiss.

She _recognized_ most of them.

_Mercenaries and dirty cops,_ she realized. _Shit. We’re in the middle of someone’s operation._

They were anxious about something, antsy and confused as they briefly made contact only for shaking heads and shrugs. Apparently, their lines of communication were not working very well.

The latest speech was drawing to a close and with deliberate casualness, Mari leaned over, bumping legs with Riko underneath the tablecloth. As she did so, her hand reached out and grasped Riko’s arm. The other woman turned, forehead scrunching in confusion from the interruption. “I need to leave for the restroom,” Mari said with an easy smile, finger tapping a brief message.

Riko’s eyes widened a bit before she schooled her expression and she nodded. “We’ll make do without you,” she said wryly, the hint of a joke in her voice.

Mari winked. Then, as the latest speaker bowed and departed from the podium, she stood up casually and made her way towards the door.

(-)(-)(-)

After Mari left and her message passed on to Yoshiko, neither could concentrate on the speeches. Not that they had been focused before—this social side of life had always been left to Mari and they each had more interesting things to do.

And, if that included Riko’s irresistible fascination with You’s biceps and Chika’s bright smile? If that included Yoshiko’s inability to not bend over every few minutes to try to murmur smart comments to try to impress Ruby and Hanamaru?

Well.

It wasn’t like anyone around them noticed.

But with Mari’s message, their distraction changed to entirely different reasons.

Riko pulled out her phone, hiding it under the tablecloth as she tapped away, hacking into holes in the network she had discovered, or made, over the last week in preparation of the gala. Yoshiko, on the other hand, began fidgeting unnoticeably, adjusting her dress and subtly warming up her muscles.

But neither had any time to start anything themselves.

Instead, a gunshot rang through the air.

Gang kids—and they were definitely kids, high-schoolers with traces of baby fat still lining their faces—flooded the room from the open doors leading to the outdoor garden. Some had simple face masks but most had their faces bare. Their jaws were tense with defiance and anger and a touch of fear. Many wore dark jackets with popped collars and had their hair slicked back or dyed. A couple held bats and the one in the lead held a smoking gun in his hand.

They came to a stop, looking around at the frozen gala participants.

“We’re here for the Kurosawa heir,” the leader announced. “Hand her over and we won’t have to kill any of you.”

Then the room exploded into chaos.

The planted mercenaries and cops leapt at the gang, drawing their weapons. The party goers began to scream and more gunfire cut through the air. Somebody flipped their table to its side and a moment later, Riko felt a body tackle her to the floor. Her breath was forced out of her lungs at the impact of her back with the ground.

She blinked up and saw Chika hovering over her, eyes apologetic and worried.

Chika was… really close.

Riko honest to god felt her soul leave her body for a moment as Chika, while still looming over her, reached out one of her hands to tilt Riko’s head up with her chin. “…ko-chan. Riko-chan? Did I make you hit your head?” she was asking when Riko returned to her body.

“N-no. I’m fine,” Riko said.

“Chika, this table is not going to work as a defense,” huffed You, trying to both hold the round table steady and peer over it at the room at large.

From Riko’s position, she could see lots of bodies moving back and forth, some cowering behind their own tables, and several more making a break for the doors. To the side, Yoshiko and Ruby had both pulled each other to huddle behind You’s makeshift barrier as well.

Chika finally got off of Riko and she pushed herself up.

“T-those gangsters,” Ruby said quietly. “They’re part of the same group whose leader Onee-chan and the others took down last week. They’re all wearing the insignia.”

Chika and You exchanged glances at that information. “Revenge?” You guessed.

“There’s no use guessing why right now,” Chika decided. She reached for her phone and after a moment, cursed. “There’s no signal. They must have jammed communications.”

“We can’t move,” You muttered, glancing over at Riko and Yoshiko who were silently watching them talk. “Not with civilians here. But right now, neither side has the advantage in the fight.”

There was a crash as a body fell back beside their cover and a gangster stepped through, wielding a bloody bat. He took in the people there and his eyes widened when they saw Ruby. “Kurosawa-!”

You sprung into action, grabbing the arm holding the bat, _spinning_ , and flinging him over her shoulder and away from their group.

“…Holy shit,” Yoshiko breathed.

“If we had a distraction,” Ruby said slowly, not even acknowledging what had just happened. “You could perhaps set up a better defensive position over there.” She pointed over to where the snack table stood. “We could also take the chance to get out of here using that exit.” This time she pointed at the doors leading back into the mansion.

However, between their current position and the snack table currently stood several gangsters either fighting or freely sweeping the area, seemingly searching for Dia. Their other path for escape had unfamiliar police officers that appeared to be doing the same thing.

“We can split up,” You said. “Ruby and you two escape while Chika-chan and I help out here.”

“Why don’t we all just run?” Riko asked nervously. “I mean, I’m not doubting you, but just two people can hardly make a difference.”

“But they can,” Chika said sincerely. Her crimson eyes met Riko’s and held them with firm conviction.

“And even if we couldn’t, we _love_ this city,” You added, voice warm.

“We will do our best to help the people however we can,” Ruby finished.

Riko blinked at all three of them, a little taken aback by the pure passion, the unwavering belief they had expressed so easily. So sure.

“But how can we distract them or lure them away?” Chika muttered, tugging a lock of her hair in frustration and breaking the spell.

“It has to be big to give us enough time to reach our points,” You agreed.

There was a pause as they all considered how trapped they were.

“I think you’ll get your distraction very soon,” Riko said suddenly, making her decision.

Yoshiko threw her an alarmed look, but the redhead looked at her pleadingly. The fallen angel slowly nodded in response.

“Huh? What do you mean Riko-chan?” You asked.

“Just be ready…” Riko said, reaching into her pocket where her phone had been safely shoved in. “…and don’t fight her.”

She pressed a button and the lights in the room shut off, sending the place into darkness. The only light came from the faint moonlight drifting in a short rectangle from the doors leading outside, but that could not illuminate the vast room and definitely not their current position. The combat came to an abrupt stop as people tried to adjust to the sudden lack of sight.

“What the—” You began before a hand grabbed her arm and she was being dragged to her feet.

“Shh,” Yoshiko’s disembodied voice hissed in her ear. Then You felt a tug and she could almost believe Yoshiko was a ghost because she couldn’t even hear her and could even barely see her once her eyes had adjusted to the dark.

They ducked and weaved the crowd for a couple more seconds and then You blinked and they were at the snack table. “Summon your shelter, You-san,” Yoshiko said, the faintest hint of a smile in her voice. “Yohane’s spell of darkness will not last for long.”

You blinked and opened her mouth to question the other woman, but Yoshiko vanished back into the crowd and You realized a couple of people were glancing her way, noticing her appearance after adjusting to the lack of light. She quickly reached the rectangular table and heaved, tilting it over with a thundering crash.

Chika appeared beside her, huffing and breathless. “How did you-?”

“And now Riri and I must depart,” Yoshiko interrupted her. “This is not our battlefield.”

“Wait-! …And there she goes,” You commented. She tried to squint back to their old table and catch a sight of Ruby, but there were too many bodies in the way as combat resumed, even wilder than before.

“Ruby-chan will be okay,” Chika said. “She can handle herself.”

“Yeah. You’re right.” You grinned and reached to her thigh to pull out a small handgun from the holster she had hidden there. “Shall we provide our own distraction, Agent Takami?”

Chika chuckled, heart soaring a little as they slid back into a familiar dance. “We shall, Agent Watanabe.”

Several feet away, Yoshiko, Riko, and Ruby had managed to get to the door unscathed and they ducked through only to come face to face with a wide-eyed and sweating woman in a server’s suit, one hand behind her back. There was a bruise forming along her jaw.

She scanned all of them, doing a double-take at Yoshiko’s startling dress before shaking her head. “You’re in my way,” she sneered, lifting the knife she had been clutching behind her.

A shot rang out and the woman collapsed, eyes wide as footsteps came rapidly from their right. Hanamaru sped around the corner, skidding to a stop in front of them. Her eyes rapidly scanned Ruby for injuries and then the others as well. She sighed in relief when she found none.

“Run,” she instructed them all. “Get out of here. The police—the _real_ police—should be on their way. I need to see if I can help more people get out or stop the fighting.”

“Hanamaru-chan,” Ruby swallowed. “Stay safe.”

The brunette smiled at her and nodded. She began to move towards the door as the trio started towards the exit when Hanamaru reached out and held the last one, Yoshiko, back.

Yoshiko turned questioningly.

Hanamaru met her gaze, amber eyes firm. “Protect her, Yoshiko-chan.”

Yoshiko hesitated, looking torn. She tugged her hand away, pulling out of the brunette’s grasp.

“Please,” Hanamaru added quietly.

Yoshiko sighed, eyes looking after the other two who were hurrying away, unaware of the conversation behind them. “I’ll try,” she said gruffly. She took a few steps away and then, “Also it’s Yohane.”

The words barely left her mouth before she was running, feet shockingly quiet against the floor.

She did not hear Hanamaru’s, “I know” and she did not look back.

(-)(-)(-)

Mari found Kanan first, motionless in a tiny supply closet that was easily missed even by the bruised and angry mercenaries searching through the mansion, looking for something. Or someone.

When the door first opened, Mari couldn’t even see the dark shape slumped against the floor, but then she moved to the side and the light from the hallway outside fell on Kanan’s blood-streaked face and suit.

Her mind went still and cold as she fell to her knees.

Before she could do anything, Kanan’s eyes snapped open and she flung out an arm to strike. Mari caught the fist, wincing a little at the unexpected force behind it. Apparently Kanan was not as beaten as she appeared.

On the other hand, Mari could appreciate the proof Kanan was alive.

“Mari?” Kanan asked, squinting a little at the shadowed face hovering above her. From the way she was blinking a lot and struggling to move, she didn’t seem to recognize Mari. The blonde hoped it was less from any dangerous brain damage and more from the fact that there was barely any light to illuminate her.

“Shh,” Mari replied, keeping her voice low. She had time before the next round of patrols but she always knew to expect unpredictability, especially with how stressed the mercenaries had seemed.

Mari absently but gently brushed back Kanan’s dark blue hair, trying to smooth the locks when she touched the back of Kanan’s head and Kanan’s face twisted in pain.

Mari flinched back. “Sorry,” she said. A quick check of her hand verified her suspicions: the glove had come away bloody.

“It’s okay,” Kanan said, relaxing slightly. “It's worse than it looks. I just need to get to Dia.”

“You are _bleeding_. From your _head_ ,” Mari scolded, grubbing around her pockets until she pulled out a handkerchief. It wasn’t ideal, but it would have to do. She folded it over a couple times and then guided Kanan’s hand to hold it against her cut. She hoped that would do. First aid was not her forte. “Can you call the hospital?”

Kanan grunted. “No. They have a jammer.” She started to her feet again only to wheeze as she jostled something she shouldn’t have. “I… have to go. The study. Dia—”

Outside, there was a faint, but sharp crack. No. A gunshot. Both of them tensed. “You don’t need to move. Dia’s fine,” Mari soothed, her lie full of the type of easy conviction that most people would believe without a second thought.

But Kanan’s violet eyes flashed, sharp and suddenly _there_ past the pain. “Liar.”

Mari flinched. But she didn’t have time to fight the other woman. She could hear some of the mercenaries coming, running fast towards them, and she had to get to Dia.

“She will be safe,” Mari promised. The lie (or was it truth? Mari couldn’t even tell) fell easily from her lips. “Stay safe, Kanan.”

Then she was gone, the door to Kanan’s haven closing and sinking her back into darkness. The detective drew in her scattered thoughts, wondering if that and the lingering scent of Mari’s perfume had all been a dream. Then she lowered her hand and looked at it. It still stung from the fighting earlier before she had managed to slip away to this closet for a reprieve.

There was the handkerchief, a plain white that was visible in the dim light except for the darker patches of blood.

Outside, the light seeping from the crack under the door suddenly died.

The footsteps became louder, more hurried. Kanan tightened her jaw.

She had a job to do.

Kanan took a deep breath and stood up.

(-)(-)(-)

Just as Mari was about to enter the study, she heard a muffled yell from inside.

The thief schooled her expression and threw open the door.

The study was quite large, sporting walls of bookshelves and a stately, polished desk in front of a large window overlooking the backyard pool. Only Dia and an unfamiliar man wearing a police officer’s dress uniform were in there. The former was snarling something at the frustrated and nervous-looking man as he backed up against the desk, away from her wrath.

“—can't keep me here any longer. I'm going to go find Kanan-san.” Dia whirled at the sound of the door and her eyes widened. “Mari-san?” she exclaimed.

“O-Ohara-san, what are you doing here?” The dirty cop, Mari was mildly gratified to notice, looked almost terrified as he recognized her and then glanced between Mari and his target.

“Well I was just enjoying the party,” Mari said calmly. She ignored the worried glance Dia sent her way as she walked sedately towards the two of them. “But then I realized my good friend Dia was missing and then I got _so_ worried…” she put on an expression of exaggerated worry but her walk continued to be languid and smooth, a predator approaching its quivering prey.

“O-oh, uh, we didn't mean to disturb your—she’s your friend?” if the dirty cop wasn't so worried about Mari's presence already, he probably would have paled even further. As it was, his face just adopted a gray-green tinge.

Footsteps sprinted down the hall, echoing across the space and Mari stepped to the left, turning her body so her back was to the wall and she could see every person in the room as well as the door. A moment later, another mercenary ran in, suit in disarray and sporting a black eye. “The transport finally got here,” he gasped to the room. “Leave Kurosawa to me. You’ll be paid once this is all over.”

The dirty cop threw a panicked glance at Mari’s direction and the mercenary finally noticed her, twisting his head to stare at her with his good eye. But where the cop had been all nerves and uncertain in the face of the Ohara name, the mercenary grew more aggressive, baring his teeth.

“So, you’re after the bounty too?” he growled. “It’s a shame I got here first.”

“Bounty?” Dia asked sharply. Smart as she was, she quickly connected the dots—the attempted bombing, the cop’s lie to keep her in the room while Kanan rushed off to check on an ‘urgent’ request, and now the back and forth of the people in front of her. “For me.” she concluded sourly.

“It’s really high,” the mercenary told her. “3 billion yen if you’re dead. An extra 500 million to have you alive. You must have created a miracle to rack up such a bounty, Miss Kurosawa heir.”

Dia froze.

“But what need do you have for such money, Ohara-san?” he added, turning back to Mari. His voice was low, almost gentle. “Everyone knows of your family’s wealth. Why not let those of us who need it have their turn…”

A muscle twitched in Mari’s jaw, but she managed to keep her face smoothly impassive. This was a rookie, probably hired cheaply more to take any fall than to actually amount to something. The way the man held himself and the way he spoke showed Mari quite clearly how new he was, full of false confidence and greed.

“And Kurosawa-san, don’t even think about running,” he said, pulling out a large, wickedly sharp knife and gripping it in an unpracticed grip. “I don’t need to have you alive.”

As Dia started to lift her chin in defiance, Mari threw a glance of genuine irritation at the fiery lawyer. She was going to get herself killed! The man was obviously bluffing, shaking a little too much with indecision and a bit of fear, but who knew how much defiance he’d take before he got desperate enough to attack. Three billion was an amazing amount even without the additional bounty for her to live. Dia deserved to be confident, but there was a line between that and basically telling the world to do its best to do her in.

“I will not—” Dia began.

Mari didn’t hesitate.

The mercenary was already at a disadvantage with his black eye and splitting his focus between Dia and Mari. He was also rushed, trying to get the Kurosawa to his late transport before the distraction ended and the real police arrived in droves. And with no real combat experience, he could not turn in time to counter Mari when she darted forward, ducking under his blind side and grabbing his right wrist with her left hand.

It twisted with a crack and the knife dropped into the blonde’s other hand. She snapped her right arm back to its side, slashing the man across the chest as she did so and he screamed, staggering backwards.

Mari tripped him, hooking one of her feet with his and then leapt to the side, whirling to face the cop who was already shaking his head wildly and raising his hands. “Go,” she snapped and he fled the room, not looking back.

“Mari-san!” Dia exclaimed, surprised and relieved. “You got him!” Then she frowned at the mercenary as he quickly got back to his feet, blocking the doorway. “You’ve lost,” she told him frostily. “I advise you surrender now and perhaps I can ask for some leniency in your sentence.”

“ _Bitch_ ,” he snarled, all desperate bravado. “The rest of the crew will be here faster than your police. Do you think you two can fight all of them off?”

“You—”

“Enough,” Mari said quietly.

In the brief pause between thought and action, a series of observations clicked into a final conclusion that felt like it had always been there.

Perhaps it had.

She moved once more, but not towards the man in the doorway. She stepped behind Dia and then reached over. “Spread the word,” she said, a friendly smile pulling her lips that didn’t reach her eyes. Her knife stayed steady in her hands even as Dia hissed in a breath of shocked betrayal at the cold metal pressed against her neck. “The Kurosawas are off the market.”

The mercenary visibly hesitated.

“You can escape the police,” Mari reminded him. “But do you think you can escape the Ohara clan?”

He ground his teeth, uncertain. “I thought you became a civilian,” he snarled back.

“Did you really think my mother would really let me go?” Mari asked casually, no hint of her nervousness showing behind her easy smile. Then her smile widened, becoming more real.

A moment later, the mercenary slumped over, collapsing onto the floor and revealing Riko, her face grim. “We have to go now,” she said abruptly.

“ _Of course_ ,” Mari agreed cheerfully. She prodded her frozen captive who was still staring down at the man on the floor.

“Is he… dead?” she asked hesitantly. She felt Mari tense and saw Riko’s eyes darken.

“No,” Riko said shortly. Then she turned. “I’ll go on ahead,” she called over her shoulder to Mari. “Be careful.” She vanished out the door.

Dia’s back was stiff but she moved forward as well when Mari nudged her, stepping past the body and out the door and then moving resolutely down the hall.

The moment they exited the room, Mari withdrew the knife and Dia slumped in relief. “Oh thank God,” she murmured. “I wasn’t sure if you were really—well. You are good at bluffs.”

Mari was quiet. So quiet, that Dia had to turn around to make sure she was still there. The blonde was staring at her, eyes conflicted and pained though she blinked it away at once when she saw Dia looking.

“Mari-san?” Dia asked.

_This is our—my—chance,_ Mari realized. _If I don’t do this now…_

“Are you okay?” Dia sounded so concerned.

“Dia-san,” Mari said gently, stretching her lips in a slow, false smile. The black-haired woman frowned at her, puzzled. “I wasn’t bluffing.”

“Hah?”

“You’ll be going with us,” Mari said simply. She tapped the handle of her knife in agitation that was not visible anywhere on her face.

Dia tensed. Her eyes flickered as she took in the empty hallway, probably judging how fast she could leap back to run out of Mari’s reach.

“I won’t need to threaten your life—I know that won’t keep you quiet for long,” Mari added implacably, seemingly unconcerned about Dia’s imminent escape.

Dia took a step back and then another, but Mari wasn’t moving. That casual sort of confidence which had saved her before now made the lawyer’s hair stand on end as she tried to figure out what Mari had that could make her so calm. Just as she was about to call Mari’s bluff and run, Mari spoke again.

“Your sister, Ruby-chan.”

The world came to a standstill. Dia couldn’t even feel her heart beating as icy fear spread through her veins.

“Will you risk her life?”

Dia stared at Mari with dawning horror. “You-you’re lying,” she finally whispered.

Mari reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone. She didn’t look away from Dia as she dialed something and lifted it to her ear. “I need a picture of Ruby-chan,” she said. “Thanks.”

She lowered the phone and then a moment later, tapped on it to open a picture that she showed Dia. The lawyer stepped forward and bit her lip. There, unmistakably on the screen, was her sister’s shadowy face leaning unconscious in the back of a car.

Fury rushed through her veins, burning away the ice and making her almost breathless, but she was well and truly trapped. When she looked at Mari’s face again, the blonde almost looked regretful, but there was a determination there that Dia knew could match her own.

This was no bluff.

Dia closed her eyes. “Okay,” she murmured through numb lips. “I will go with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was sponsored by You’s guns and Chika’s horizontal kabekui. RIP in pieces Riko.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The escape.

With their heads bent down and resting on each other and their even breathing, the two hostage Kurosawas at the back of the car looked like they were peacefully sleeping.

Technically, they were. It just wasn’t natural sleep.

They also seemed to literally be the only ones in the center of the city that calm.

The residential sector mainly populated by the wealthy citizens of Uchiura had been sleepily quiet, unaware of the dying sounds of combat escaping the mansion. But the moment Guilty Kiss’s car had entered downtown, they had hit a traffic jam that seemed to spread across every street.

And while Uchiura had an active night life, they were all well aware that a solid wall of cars this late in the night with packs of pedestrians walking through the gaps looking irritated and flustered was not anywhere near normal.

“What is going on?” Yoshiko muttered, tapping her finger rapidly on the steering wheel as she watched a woman dart right in front of their car to get to the other side of the street. From the packed streets to the colorful lights of the buildings and the headlights of cars shining through the area, it almost felt like daytime. The only sign that it wasn’t day was the lack of sun leaving strips of fuzzy darkness above them.

“Let me check the news,” Riko offered from the back seat as she straightened up from making sure the hostages were safely knocked out.

“It’s probably something else,” Yoshiko agreed. “They can’t have figured us out already, right Mari?” Their strategist stared out of her window thoughtfully and didn’t reply. “Mari?”

“Hm? What?” The blonde looked around in exaggerated surprise.

Both her teammates looked at her in concern.

“What has you so distracted?” Yoshiko asked, a little bit peeved. “We are in the _middle of a kidnapping_ remember?”

“Yes. I am well aware,” Mari replied drily, eyes darting backwards to where the two were still peacefully snoozing. Something hard and almost angry flashed across her face.

Riko bit her lip. She already knew Yoshiko had been tense and unhappy about the direction their night had taken, but if Mari was having second thoughts as well…

“Are you having second thoughts about this?” Riko bit the bullet and asked.

“It is too late to change,” Mari mused whimsically, shrugging her shoulders. “We have done the deed and we can’t turn back.” She fell silent. Then, “It’s been ‘too late’ for a very long time, hasn’t it?”

Suddenly, she sat up straight, staring out of the windshield and down the line of cars waiting in front of them.

“Is that-?”

“Why is there an officer going through each car?” Riko asked with forced calm as she too saw what had made Mari look so alarmed.

“Riko, cover them with a blanket. Make sure to cover their clothes,” Mari said quickly. “Yoshiko—I’ll need you to keep them off balance with your Yohane shtick.”

“It’s not a shtick,” Yoshiko retorted absently, one hand already preparing to go to her face in a pose.

“Will this work?” Riko asked as she finished tucking a thin blanket over the duo next to her.

Mari glanced over and nodded approvingly. The two were arranged in such a way that while their heads were visible, their faces were naturally covered by their free hair and the way they leaned against each other. Riko slipped the removed hair accessories away and pulled out her phone.

Moments later, an officer tapped on the window and Yoshiko lowered it obligingly. “Alas! What Ragnarok is this?” Yoshiko exclaimed, doing her best to pose as she sat. “Has the city been cursed with eternal stillness as punishment for our hubris?”

The officer blinked and took a half step back. She looked to Mari for answers and the blonde smiled. “It has been a long night,” she said sympathetically. The officer nodded uncertainly, her gaze flickering briefly to the back of the car, but her eyes passed over the sleeping figures and Riko without much thought before turning back to the two at the front.

“We are setting up stations for all traffic through the downtown,” the officer recited. “Please be prepared to be pulled over when going through to different districts. I apologize for any problem this will cause.”

“Of course, officer,” Mari said politely. “Best of luck this evening.”

The officer sighed. “Thank you, Miss. I think I’ll need it.” She turned away and moved onwards to the next car.

The moment she left and Yoshiko had rolled up the window again, everyone slumped in relief.

“They’re definitely searching for something. Or someone,” Mari murmured, eyes calculating. “And if they’re monitoring all traffic, we need to take a detour and switch out cars.”

“I hate to say this,” Riko added. “But there’s no news about why this is happening. Even the internal channels for the police are very bare. They are also referring to what’s happening with a mostly code names. If we want information, we might have to try something else. Maybe we should stop by the Snow Globe.”

“That sounds like a terrible idea,” Yoshiko said bluntly. She shrugged. “Let’s do it.”

In the back of the car, pink hair shifted minutely as its owner began to stir.

(-)(-)(-)

It had taken them far too long to notice that Dia and Ruby were missing.

Chika and You had been busy dealing with the battle and then keeping under the radar in the aftermath. The police, at least, had been distracted by the cleanup. A small squad of new officers had arrived at last, late and distracted, exchanging loaded words with the few officers on hand that had not been part of the whole fiasco.

There was a blur of arresting prisoners, trying to keep the wounded from dying, avoiding looking at those who were actually dead, and then Kanan marching in to ask if any of them had seen Dia.

When they had learned that Dia was gone and that there were no messages from either her nor Ruby, the suspicions began to grow.

“You both keep working here,” You suggested to the remaining members of AZALEA. “Chika-chan and I will go see if they went back to their apartment.”

The members of AZALEA had not looked happy, but they had agreed, waving the two agents off.

There was no sign of either sister at their apartment.

And then Chika was called to Governor Kurosawa’s office.

Exchanging glances with You, she took off, praying that the uneasy feeling in her gut was just paranoia.

Several minutes later, Chika entered the governor’s office. “Welcome. Please come in,” the governor greeted her from behind his desk.

“Thank you, Governor Kurosawa,” Chika replied, closing the door behind her. She glanced around quickly, taking it in as she asked, “What did you need to speak with me about?”

It was a spartan sort of office, with barely a mark of personality anywhere. The walls were blank, and the books on the man’s desk and bookshelf all seemed to be only thick tomes of laws and topics that made Chika’s eyes glaze over.

The man himself looked old and weary as he gestured at Chika to sit down. “Very soon,” he said grimly. “Your agency and the police force will realize that my daughters have been taken.”

Chika’s brain stalled. “Eh?”

“I called you here to ask that you and your agents refrain from wasting manpower on this matter.”

When Chika’s brain finished rebooting, outrage and denial warred on the tip of her tongue. Neither managed to leave her mouth.

Chika had seen people shine. After all, she was practically surrounded by stars.

There was, of course, You who had gleamed the brightest as she had shot up the ranks on her way to becoming a captain of the navy. And even when she had switched paths, she had still been so, so bright with a smile like gentle sunlight and a talent for everything she had tried. Ruby had hidden herself away, but when it came to the things or people she cared about, Chika would find herself breathless in the face of Ruby’s fire.

And Kanan, Dia, and Hanamaru—filled to the brim with their own light. Stubbornness and passion and _com_ passion.

Sometimes, Chika could almost believe that she could match them. Sometimes, when she lost herself in the excitement of an idea, she could believe that she was shining too.

But when those moments ended, when silence inevitably fell over the rush of giddy excitement in her mind, Chika would return to just Chika.

Normal Chika.

But even normal Chika was _something_ compared to the man in front of her at that moment. The truth stared at her with blank green eyes so unlike the passionate emerald that his daughters had. Kurosawa Akira had—

“You’ve already given up,” she accused.

“I asked you here not as Takami Chika, but as Agent Takami,” Akira growled, eyes flashing. “Will you think rationally before you accuse me of anything?”

“You don’t think they can be found,” Chika continued relentlessly.

“Agent Takami—”

“You have already given up so you don't want anyone else to even try?”

“Do you know what it means to be a leader?” he demanded.

Her eyes flashed and she opened her mouth.

“Do you know what sacrifices must be made to protect this city?”

“Finding them is part of protecting this city!”

“Agent Takami,” the governor said softly. “I have made many enemies trying to destroy criminals. And the one thing I know about them is that the moment my daughters fell into their grasp, they have already died. All that is left is to keep this city standing instead of falling into chaos.”

Chika shook her head, her orange hair swishing in agitation. “You’re wrong,” she said resolutely. “Abandoning them is just—wrong.”

“And what can you do about it?” Governor Kurosawa asked quietly. “There are limits to what the law can do. The criminals of this city would never tell an officer the truth and only they would know anything about what we need.”

Chika stood up. “Governor Kurosawa,” she said firmly. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to save your daughters.”

As she left the room, she felt her heart beat a single, steady resolution. She would _not_ give up. Especially when her friends had never given up on _her_.

(-)(-)(-)

Ruby woke to the soft murmur of half familiar voices.

“Ok, be careful Mari,” someone said, low and concerned. In her sleepy fog, Ruby wondered who it was. Yo… Yohane? No… not quite…

“ _Of course_ ,” came the reply, an indecipherable accent coloring the voice.

Ruby furrowed her brow and blinked open her eyes at the same time she heard a car door close. Ah, the weight leaning against her head had been Dia-oneechan. They were in a car…? Her mind was moving sluggishly and Ruby could feel sleepiness trying to creep its way back in, but a voice in her head that sounded a lot like her sister’s kept repeating that something. _Was. Wrong_.

But she felt so comfortable with her sister’s reassuring weight beside her and a soft blanket draped over them both. Her eyelids fluttered shut—

“I know it’s too late to back out, but are you okay with this, Yoshiko?” someone asked from the other side of Dia.

Ruby couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes, but she managed to focus a little. That voice was… Riko-san. They had met earlier during the gala. And yes, that first speaker had been _Yoshiko_ -chan…

“I—” Yoshiko stopped. There was a soft thud: the sound of her head as she knocked it back against the headrest and let out a breath. “Do you remember what I told Mari when I—when we—wanted to join the clan?”

“Which time?” Riko’s voice was dry.

Yoshiko huffed out a laugh. “That last time. The last reason we used to convince her,” she said.

A pause, and then Yoshiko continued, “Yeah. So. This is my choice too. My responsibility.”

“Not just yours,” Riko said lowly.

“Riko…”

Ruby shifted quietly. She could hear a faint tapping noise, only audible because it was so quiet in the car. Despite her sleepiness, something about the quiet intensity of the current discussion made her want to listen. As if she were in a haze and these words were the only thing that was clear.

“It was my fault, you know?” Yoshiko whispered. “I was careless.”

“No, Yoshiko.” Riko sounded so very tired. “It was my fault for being incapable. Or it was Mari’s fault for not realizing what was going on. Or it was Ohara-san’s fault for sending us on the job in the first place. We can spend all day assigning blame, but in the end, we were just in the wrong place and the wrong time.”

Yoshiko breathed out a laugh. “Exactly. What happened back then… it was a curse. A trial thrown upon us. But this… This will be a conscious decision. If—when—we… we _sell_ her. When we get that bounty, we truly are selling the last bits of our souls.”

They fell silent again, but this time Ruby could feel her heart begin to pound. Her sleepiness fading slightly in the wake of the final bit of memory the words had brought back: of a sharp pinprick of pain, of a flash of fear as she struggled against a rush of exhaustion, and the arms (gently, carefully) wrapped around her and pulled her into the car.

Ruby opened her eyes. _I have to get out of here_ , she thought dizzily. _I have to get Onee-chan out of here_.

She tried to prod her sister from underneath the blanket but Dia didn’t even stir from the action. The sleepiness was invading her senses again but she tried blinking rapidly to stave it off.

Perhaps she had heard her movements, quiet as they were or perhaps it was just by luck, but as Ruby opened her eyes further to try to gauge her situation, Yoshiko turned around to look into the back and met her eyes.

Both of them froze.

Ruby blinked, scanning the fallen angel’s face. There was the shock at seeing her awake of course, but beneath that, there was the remnants of emotion from that conversation. Grief, regret, determination, _love_.

“Riri,” Yoshiko said quietly.

“What? She’s awake?” Riko leaned over and though Ruby wanted to shift away, she could only twitch her head a little, her limbs leaden.

“What… did you do…” Ruby managed to force out. Her eyelids sank down again despite herself.

“She’ll be out again soon,” Riko’s voice murmured from far away.

Then, quietly, whispered. “Sorry, Ruby-chan. But for them, I’ll do anything.”

_Ah,_ Ruby thought fuzzily, sinking down. _This love…_ Her thought trailed away as Ruby drifted off but even as she did, she held the conversation she had heard close to her chest. A seed of hope. A belief she clutched close that Chika and You had taught her in the days when their jobs had taken them to see the worst of humanity. It was one she had whispered to herself monotonously each time she returned from a meeting with her father with new knowledge of her family’s ties and the sacrifices he had made.

But something about Yoshiko’s eyes, about Riko’s quiet apology, about her observations of the trio of criminals just earlier that day made Ruby believe whole-heartedly the one thing that had always brought CYaRon back home.

There was good in these people. And no matter what, that meant…

She had a chance.

(-)(-)(-)

Despite the impatience thrumming through her body, You managed a bright smile as she saluted the officer letting another car go past the blockade. “Itsuki-chan!” she greeted. “Ohayosorou!”

The woman gave her a look that plainly said something along the lines of, _Good god woman, you are way too chipper for this time of night_. When she spoke however, her quiet voice had a hint of cheer in it—not many could face You’s smile and stay grumpy for long. “I refuse to acknowledge that it is morning until I see the sun rise. If it’s still dark, then it’s still night,” she murmured. Then, “What do you need?”

“I’m visiting all of the barricades to get information about who has passed by,” You explained. “If you have any information about ‘interesting’ people you’ve seen, I would appreciate it.”

“Of course I’ll help,” Itsuki said simply. “I’ll let Yoshimi-chan know that I need a moment.”

As she moved away, You stepped back, smiling a little in gratitude at how willing her friends were to help without explanation or questions.

Even Chika and Ruby, when faced with her withdrawal from their group over the past couple months had done their best to wait for her, albeit with some concern.

You sighed at the reminder. She just wanted (needed) time.

Time to think about… about Chika. About what to say to her, or if she should say anything, and how she should say it.

About their partnership and whether it would continue.

About that day that her heart had stuttered when seeing Chika laugh so hard, she had almost snorted her mikan juice up her nose, and something in You had shifted and she had thought to herself, _oh_.

_Oh_ , every time thereafter when Chika smiled or called her name or sat nearby or—

So. She needed to think about her relationship with Chika, but with Ruby and Dia missing, she did not have that luxury. It would have to be put aside once more, hidden under the rather effective excuse of there being more important issues at hand.

_Later_ , You said to herself tasting the tiring familiarity of the word. But she managed to put it fully aside when Itsuki returned and began to talk.

The officer had not noticed anything particularly odd about the people who had passed by her station, but she had noticed one thing that made You jolt up with interest.

“Kazuno Sarah-san passed by,” the officer told her. “She looked distracted and there was nothing suspicious about her, but I know she has been a person of interest for some time. But other than that, I can’t recall anyone else who passed by that could be important.”

You straightened and nodded. “Thank you, Itsuki-chan,” she said gratefully. “This might be the lead I need.” Then she took off, waving a rushed good-bye to the officers and practically leaping into her car.

_Kazuno Sarah_ , You thought. _The Snow Globe first, then._

She was not expecting, minutes later as she parked on an unlit side street, seeing a nondescript car pull out of a parking spot and seeing a glimpse of someone that could possibly have been Yoshiko driving it, her face oddly serious. Yoshiko, who she had last seen with Riko and _Ruby_.

Now, You hadn’t gotten a clear look with how dark it was in the unlit street and the driver had a face mask on, but You’s senses were screaming at her and she had not gotten this far in life ignoring her gut instinct.

You’s eyes narrowed and she slid back into her car.

(-)(-)(-)

“I don’t want anyone to panic,” Yoshiko began as they drove inconspicuously in the middle of a long line of cars driving along one of the only well-lit streets in the Dock District.

Mari closed her eyes in frustration.

“Oh no,” Riko muttered.

“But we’re being followed.”

“Can you tell who it is?” Mari asked, turning around casually as if stretching her back so she could peer behind them.

“No, but they’re good,” Yoshiko admitted grudgingly.

“We’re going to have to shake them off and take another detour,” Mari said, voice tight as she turned back around.

“Ku ku ku,” Yoshiko cackled confidently. “Do not worry, my little demons. Let Yohane’s wings sweep us away.”

“Don’t you mean wheels?” Riko asked snarkily as she too turned around to peer through the back window. The car behind them was not their tail, but when it turned out into a different intersection, Riko paled and she automatically ducked down before she could think about it.

“What’s wrong?” Yoshiko asked, eyes flickering briefly to the rearview mirror and then back to the front.

“I recognize her,” Riko said slowly. “It’s… Watanabe You.”

“The charity speaker?” Mari sounded surprised.

“It seems she is not exactly… that,” Riko said, eyes glazing over as she remembered Chika and You, working in practiced tandem to protect their group. How You had flung a man away from them so simply. How they had called them _civilians_ —

“That’s not good,” Mari murmured. “If we don’t know who she works for, we definitely can’t be caught.”

“Hang on tight,” Yoshiko commanded.

“I hate when you say that,” Riko complained.

Then, the car slid into a sudden turn and Yoshiko took off, rocketing away into the dark.

“ _Ooh excellent!_ ” Mari exclaimed. “You’ve gotten better at your turns!”

Riko groaned.

The Docks District, an easy enough place to navigate, had a simple grid of warehouses set up next to the sea. The oft-used main street cut through the entire district in almost a straight line and was the best way to go through, with many streetlights and not too many stoplights to interrupt the flow of traffic. Most of the other streets had barely any lighting but because of the even way the district was laid out, it was very easy to get to your destination in a dozen other ways rather than the main road.

In short, it was hard to get lost, but it was very easy to lose someone if you didn’t know where they were going.

Guilty Kiss’s car glided through the dark and empty side streets, slipping into corners at the last second and then shooting forward several warehouse blocks in a nonsensical path.

Their tail dogged them, putting on speed now that You had realized that they were on to her. She kept up surprisingly well, unable to fully cut them off, but staying close to their back no matter how many twists and turns Yoshiko incorporated.

Riko bit her lip. The longer they waited, the more likely backup would arrive and cut them off for good. As she cast her mind out for any ideas, she took a moment to check that their hostages were still sleeping and not being tossed around too much.

When she looked back up, Mari's eyes gleamed back at her from the light cast by You’s headlights through the back window.

“Is she—are they okay?” Mari asked.

“Yes,” Riko said. “We should finish this soon though.”

“I’m on it,” Yoshiko said, her head tilted to the side. Her eyes darted between the clear space in front of them and the main street running parallel beside them. Her mouth was moving silently as she counted cars. Counted seconds.

Then their car swerved one more time and all the conscious passengers held on as best they could as their car darted forward at a collision course towards the continuous line of cars. One second, two seconds, three seconds—the next car was already entering the intersection but Yoshiko had timed it well.

They slid in between the gap like a shadow.

Behind them, You screeched to a halt, the tip of her car colliding off the corner of the car that had been crossing.

Horns began to blare as the line of cars jolted to a sudden stop.

Riko looked back one last time and sighed in relief when she saw You stagger out of the car and stand up straight. Then her view of the intersection vanished as Yoshiko turned away into another street.

It was done.

They were gone.

(-)(-)(-)

With limited options of where to go, and not willing to stay outdoors any longer than necessary for that night, Guilty Kiss settled for their closest bolt hole—a tiny one-bedroom apartment that they each used separately when they wanted to hide away from the world for a little while.

Riko used it the most often, dropping by every week for simply an hour or two to settle her mind in the stillness.

After changing clothes and securing their prisoners as best they could on some wooden chairs, Mari sent the other two away to sleep, claiming that she could watch over the hostages herself as she was still feeling awake from her coffee.

The others didn’t argue. They were too weary from the events of the past several hours and instead trudged away to collapse together onto the bed.

The apartment fell silent once more and Mari hummed to herself a little as she considered her limited options of how to distract herself.

She had just decided to take one of Yohane’s black magic books to giggle over when Dia’s head suddenly jerked up and the hostage blinked awake, staring uncomprehendingly around.

“Oh, Dia,” Mari said, peering over the top of the book in her hands with a mildness that impressed even herself. “You’re awake.”

Dia got her bearings rather quickly, helped along by the fact that she noticed Ruby’s slumped figure on the chair beside her. “If you’ve hurt one hair on Ruby’s head,” Dia began threateningly.

“She’s just sleeping,” Mari protested calmly.

“Where are we?” Dia tugged uselessly at her arms and then glanced down at herself. She scowled when she realized her current predicament.

“Do you like them?” Mari asked amused when Dia’s struggles stopped so she could stare at the bright pink, fuzzy handcuffs currently keeping her legs secured to the chair legs. A matching pair kept Dia’s hands trapped behind the back of the chair. “I thought they were more _exciting_.”

“Is this a joke to you?” Dia asked hotly. She tried once again to move. “What are you planning on doing to us?” She licked her lips, the first hint of her rage dropping away to reveal a touch of betrayal. “ _Why?_ ”

Mari stood up, stepping with deliberate slowness towards Dia who stared up at her with wide green eyes. This close, Mari could see the remnants of the girl she had once met so long ago—in the stubborn tilt of her chin, the glimmering green of her eyes, and the mole by her mouth.

But this was no girl in front of Mari.

Dia had grown up, grown stronger, and she had forgotten.

_That’s good_ , Mari reminded herself. _It will be better this way._

The thief leaned down until they were face to face. Close enough that if they each had remembered to breathe, they would have been sharing the same air.

“For the money, Dia- _chan_ ,” Mari said smoothly, watching the way Dia’s eyes twitched down to her lips just briefly before returning to her gaze. “Just for the money.”

Dia’s face twisted between several different emotions before she settled for baring her teeth at Mari. “You better sleep with one eye open at night,” she growled. “You greedy, selfish… brute!”

Mari stood up straight and stepped back, looking away dismissively.

“You must be starving,” Mari announced. “You didn’t get to eat earlier, after all.”

 As if in response, she heard a quiet grumble followed by an embarrassed snarl from Dia’s direction and chuckled.

She peeked into the fridge, frowned at the mostly empty space, and then smiled in triumph. A moment later, she held up a box very optimistically labelled with Riko’s name on it.

“I hope you don’t mind sandwiches,” Mari said.

 “And how will I eat them without hands?” Dia asked, eyes narrowing.

Mari brightened, letting the anger in Dia’s tone roll off of her without comment. “I can feed yo-”

“No.”

“It’s joke,” Mari smiled. “I will uncuff one of your hands.”

She moved behind Dia and started unlocking the handcuffs, still talking.

“You know, Di-a, if you keep making that face, you’ll get wrinkl—es.” Mari stumbled over the last word as she stopped to stare at the bracelet that had dropped down on Dia’s wrist.

The string was fraying with use but the cheap charms themselves were clean and well-cared for. The three familiar symbols jangling together in a mess of stars, dolphins, and flowers.

Mari swallowed.

“Ohara-san?” Dia asked, twisting her head to try to see what had happened.

“A-anyways,” Mari said, clicking the handcuffs shut such that Dia now had one hand free. “Don’t try anything funny. This _brute_ might accidentally knock you out.”

She retreated a few steps away and pulled open the blinds to peer outside. The apartment wasn’t in the best spot to see much of anything, but Mari could see a sliver of the sky where she could pretend the tiny lights moving up above were stars and not planes. She only looked on for a moment before turning back and settling into her chair with the black magic book.

She left the window open, uncaring if Dia saw outside—perhaps even planning on it.

Because Dia was certainly looking, hoping she could see where exactly she was.

And she did realize very quickly despite only getting a view of a plain, worn wall with a sliver of a window on the opposite side.

There was no mistaking it.

They were in the city’s “Ghost District,” an ill-kept residential section of the city filled with row upon row of tightly packed apartment buildings that all looked exactly the same. Tiny windows were lined up like thousands of little eyes peering out onto the space that narrowly sliced between the buildings that no car dared to stay in for long.

The roads themselves twisted and turned with no semblance of order—curving in some places and ending abruptly in others for seemingly no reason.

Despite the fact that there were hundreds of thousands of people crammed in the district, the streets were almost always silent of voices as if there were no people at all. The only noise came from the cars driving by or faint threads of sound from the adjacent Industry and Docks Districts.

And if sometimes, there was the crack of gunfire or other, closer, sounds of violence? Well, all the residents there knew to keep their heads down and look the other way.

It was the best place for people to vanish.

Something sank in Dia’s stomach as she stared blankly at the dead building standing resolutely outside the window.

Who could possibly find them here?

(-)(-)(-)

With Kanan fighting off the paramedics and trying to break down the police chief’s door to get news about Dia and Ruby’s disappearance, it was Hanamaru who first received the call and grim confirmation about what happened to the two sisters. It was a joint call from Chika and You hours late from when they first should have called.

“I’m sorry,” You said raggedly after a short explanation. “I couldn’t catch them.”

“But we have other leads!” Chika assured Hanamaru brightly. “We’ll bring them back soon.”

Hanamaru did not ask why they, the supposed civilians, thought that they could have been capable of catching up to criminals or what leads they could possibly mean. She had always wondered a little about their little group and she had her own ideas about who they truly were, but in the end, none of that really mattered.

She trusted Ruby and she trusted Chika and You, so she had settled for silent acceptance.

“—So watch over Kanan-chan for us, please, Hanamaru-chan?” Chika finished. “And… be careful at your work.”

Hanamaru murmured her assent and ended the call before ducking into the empty file room to think. It was her haven. Not quite the kind of library that Hanamaru enjoyed on her free time, but there was something about the rows upon rows of cases that captured Hanamaru just the same. Hanamaru probably had the most in-depth knowledge of the cases the precinct had investigated over the past several decades than anyone else.

Not one to rush blindly ahead, Hanamaru took a moment to glance unseeingly at the shelves while she thought. But in the end, the decision was one she made quite quickly. This was not something she could silently accept, she realized. Not when Ruby and Dia were on the line.

So, in all the bustle of the newly instated blockade, the arrests of co-workers and gang members, the searching and the planning, no one really took notice of Officer Kunikida Hanamaru. Not when she changed out of her uniform into a set of plain civilian clothes. Not when she went to her desk and put away her phone and her gun into one of the drawers. And not when she left the precinct.

Hanamaru left with a simple plan.

Several minutes later, she was staring up at an imposing man with a nasty scar across his cheek and a very obviously missing pinky.

Her stance firmed and she bowed in greeting.

“I would like to see Kazuno Leah-san, please,” Hanamaru requested politely.

The man scoffed as he took in Hanamaru’s small stature and her rather bland clothes. “Do you have an appointment with her?”

“I am afraid not,” Hanamaru replied simply. “How may I go about getting one, zura?”

He snorted. “The lieutenant doesn’t have time for any random person who comes in and asks for her,” he sneered. He jerked his head dismissively. “Now leave before I make you.”

“Can you at least inform her that Kunikida Hanamaru was here?” Hanamaru asked. “She’ll want to know, zura.”

The man stood up, towering over her. The petite officer did not flinch, only tilting her head every so slightly to meet his gaze. “Listen,” he growled. “You’re obviously insane if you think I’ll waste her time on a nobody like you. So, I’ll give you one more chance to walk away before things get messy.”

“Hey! You! Stand down!” a familiar voice snapped out from behind him. “She’s with me.”

The man turned and immediately bowed. “Ah. Lieutenant Kazuno. I see. I apologize for the disturbance.”

Leah shrugged indifferently and waved Hanamaru over to follow her, barely acknowledging the brunette as she took them to an office.

However, once the door closed, the yakuza lieutenant whirled on Hanamaru with her eyes blazing. “Are you stupid?” she demanded. “Why did you think it was a good idea to walk into a _Yakuza_ Headquarters _, Officer_ Kunikida?”

“I knew you would be here and this was the fastest way to get your attention, zura,” Hanamaru explained. “I heard that your sister was seen leaving downtown, which meant you had to be here and I knew that man would not attack me before you came.”

Leah scanned Hanamaru, taking in the simple dress and her very obvious lack of weapons. “You made sure you looked like that so we wouldn’t feel threatened enough to kill you and then called me out, knowing I’d be here,” Leah summed up, impressed despite herself at how Hanamaru had thrown together such a plan from her scant knowledge, but accurate deductions. “Well, what do you want then?”

“Ruby-chan and Dia-san, zura,” Hanamaru said quietly. Firmly. She stared at Leah with clear, unblinking eyes.

Leah twitched but played dumb, eyes wary. “What about them?”

“Are you or your family involved in her abduction?” Hanamaru asked.

When Leah’s silence stretched on too long, Hanamaru gritted her teeth.

“Did. You. Take. Them?”

Leah’s eyes widened.

For all that Hanamaru seemed like softness and easy smiles, there now was a razor edge, an unbending spine of steel. Suddenly, Leah could understand how the woman in front of her could be part of the police force’s dream team.

“We didn’t take her,” Leah admitted truthfully. “The Kazuno Clan is trying though. One of the other lieutenants were pulling strings with the blockade that’s in place right now, but there’s been interference on that front, so I believe the kidnappers slipped past.”

“They did, zura,” Hanamaru agreed, thinking back to You and the brief explanation she had given.

The officer focused once more when she realized that Leah was looking unusually hesitant. “I still owe her,” Leah finally said. “If you need help finding Ruby-chan…”

Hanamaru smiled and it was as if the sun had come out, burning any vestiges of clouds and fog away. “Thank you, zura,” she said, not even bothering to disguise her triumph. “Well then, zura, what agents or knowledge do you have on the Ghost District?”

(-)(-)(-)

“What?!”

Kanan did not normally shout. In fact, one of the more popular jokes around the station was that she was an amazingly realistic (but friendly) robot.

So when her voice cracked through the air, accompanied by the sound of a fist slamming down on a wooden desk, almost every person stopped moving and turned their head to the Chief’s office. A moment later, the detective stalked out of the room, body rigid with fury.

Immediately, everyone returned to their work.

With her head bandaged, and her suit still rumpled and covered with blood (most of it not hers), Kanan cut a ferocious figure.

She scanned the room, passing over groups of officers huddled together talking, officers checking in the influx of people they had just arrested, and a constant flow of officers moving through the building. The station had never been that full, but with the recent attacks—not only at the gala, but at various spots of the city—everyone had been called in.

When Kanan’s eyes fell upon Hanamaru’s empty desk, her jaw tightened and she stalked over. People leapt out of her way as she passed, but none said anything and instead lowered their heads and continued focusing on their jobs.

Hanamaru wasn’t there, but neatly put away into her top drawer were her phone and her gun. Kanan stared at the two for a second before slamming the offending drawer shut.

Dia was gone. Ruby was gone. And Hanamaru, the only other person the Chief had allowed Kanan to take in order to search for them had wandered off somewhere without her weapon.

An aching wave of fear and isolation swept her body and Kanan tried to take a steadying breath.

There was a crushing pressure, harsh and unyielding, pressing in around her that made that action difficult. She felt as if she had dived straight down in the sea but there was no sunlight, no fish, no life. No familiar comfort.

Her breath shook.

She didn’t know where to _go_. Where should she start?

Half of her wanted to just march out into the streets, calling out for Dia and Ruby, but she knew logically how ineffective that would be. She needed—

She needed Dia’s methodical planning. She needed Hanamaru’s steady support. Hell, if they hadn’t vanished to chase after their ‘own leads’, she would have asked Chika and You for their help. Chika, with her moments of astounding clarity, along with her boisterous cheer. You, who could (and did) make friends with everyone she met.

Kanan exhaled slowly, frustration mounting. She just… needed a way to go.

Unbidden, her hand reached up to her necklace. Her mind returned to the handkerchief stuffed in her pocket and she paused as she thought about the stranger that had found her in that little closet just a couple of hours ago. _Was that person really…?_

She thought of years ago: of a tentative hug, of a fleeting friendship, of three children and promises sealed with cheap bracelets.

And Kanan knew.

“Mari.”

(-)(-)(-)

As a young child, Mari was not lonely, she was just alone.

She was content with that fact because all she really needed was her horse Starbright, her mother, and the sporadic contact with the hard-eyed men and women who sometimes appeared at their home and were roped into babysitting her. None were stupid enough to complain.

The problem arose when they moved to Numazu in preparation for expanding the clan into Uchiura.

There was no space in Numazu for Starbright, Ohara Mitsue was constantly gone as she spun plans and contacts into motion, and Mari found that she really did not care for the grim faces and harsh scars of the people who were now almost constantly around her mother in various meetings.

So when Mari was not holed up with private tutors, she was sent off to the adjacent Tsushima Daycare to keep her out of the way.

Mari didn’t appreciate _that_ too much either and it became a common sight for people to see the blonde poking around places she didn’t belong and running off whenever anyone tried to bring her back under control. She became quite talented at knowing when to avoid people entirely by reading the intent in their bodies and equally adept at cheerfully convincing them to let her go.

She mostly did not interact with the other children, though the daycare owner’s daughter, Yoshiko, was not too bad to hang around every once in a while. She was one of the few actually not that interested in her potential as yakuza clan heir, being more interested in her potential as a little demon.

It was a shame that Yoshiko-chan had sprained her ankle a couple days ago and had holed herself away, Mari thought as she secured the clip of her rope harness onto the railing at the top of the building. The fallen angel probably would have loved to join her in her current adventure.

Once secure, Mari lowered herself down until she was hanging outside the top floor and peered into a window leading in.

She immediately found herself looking into a kitchen. It was the Tsushima’s personal kitchen, the daycare itself belonging on the lower levels of the same building.

The blonde grinned, having now oriented herself. Maybe she could actually poke around and gather the fallen angel after all.

It took several minutes of maneuvering before she made it to the correct window. When she looked inside however, the younger girl was almost fully asleep. She was tucked into a cozy burrito with her foot and its brace sticking out. Surprisingly, there was an unfamiliar girl with brown hair sitting beside her, reading a rather thick book.

Mari hesitated and then decided not to bother the two. Yoshiko-chan could always descend with her some other time.

She swung herself away and lowered herself down another floor, stifling giggles as she peered into windows and saw various other children and caretakers unaware of the girl hanging outside the window making faces at them.

Feeling more than a little triumphant as she approached the second floor, Mari didn’t bother peeking and instead just dropped in front of an open window, her shoes settling on the window frame to brace herself.

She immediately found herself staring at two unfamiliar faces right by the opening, staring straight back at her.

The prim-looking girl with straight black hair and a mole by her mouth leapt behind her dark-blue-haired friend with a shriek. “PIGYAH! W-w-what are you doing?” she asked Mari, aghast.

Her friend was staring at Mari with equally wide eyes though less in horror and more in pure surprise.

Mari just looked back at the two of them speechlessly, equally stunned.

“Are you okay, Dia-chan?” the concerned voice of Yoshiko's mother asked from out of sight around the corner.

Mari's eyes widened as the adult's footsteps neared and she took a step back. Her foot met air. As her body tipped backward, she wind-milled her arms in an attempt to reach the rope to keep herself the right way up.

A warm hand grabbed hers with a soft _oof_ as the owner collided with the windowsill in order to grab her. Most of her weight was still supported by her rope, but as Mari looked up at violet eyes intent on keeping her steady, she forgot all about it. For a moment, she looked at a girl single-handedly holding her up like some sort of hero.

“You screamed very loudly,” Yoshiko's mother's voice continued, sounding concerned and growing louder.

Mari's eyes widened. “Please!” she whisper-yelled at the two heads poking out of the window and staring down at her. “Don't tell her I'm here!”

“B-but,” the black-haired girl, Dia-chan, began.

“Please!” Mari repeated.

Dia-chan frowned and her head vanished. Mari began to scrabble her legs against the wall, trying to find good footing. Her free hand grasped her rope and she pulled herself up enough with the other girl's help to peek over the windowsill.

Yoshiko's mother was crouched down in front of Dia-chan. The girl was scratching lightly at her mole as she tried to smile. “I-it was nothing!” she said. “Kanan-san just scared me with a hug!”

The caretaker's head turned to the window and Mari ducked.

“Yeah!” Kanan-chan said. “I didn't mean to… surprise her that much.”

There was a long pause and Mari held her breath, wishing she could look at the older woman to see if she believed the lie.

“All right,” Tsushima-san finally said. “Just tell me if there are any issues, okay?”

The two girls chorused their agreement. A moment later, twin sighs of relief told Mari that the caretaker was gone and she raised herself again to beam at the two.

“Shiny! Thanks!” she chirped.

“What are you doing?” Dia-chan asked, crossing her arms. “That’s dangerous!”

“ _No problem!_ ” Mari said easily. “I don’t go lower unless I click this button, see?” She held out a hand to show them. “Otherwise the rope stays the same and I just hang! I can still accidentally go upside down though…” Luckily, that girl that Dia-chan had called Kanan-san, had saved her from that happening.

The two new girls stepped closer to her, crowding the windowsill curiously. “Did you come from the very top?” Kanan-chan asked, swallowing at the thought of such a height.

“ _Yes_!” Mari said proudly.

“Maybe you should get down now…” Dia-chan suggested.

“Hmm, I guess so,” Mari agreed. She turned around and looked down. It wasn’t too far from the floor. With a whoop, she hopped off the ledge only to hear two surprised yelps and two pairs of hands grab onto her from behind, trying to pull her back.

“Not like this!” Dia-chan’s voice yelped in her ear.

Mari was so surprised, she jammed her finger onto her controller and the rope slackened.

She dropped.

The two other girls grabbing her were unprepared for the sudden pull and a moment later three screams split the air. The trio fell in a tumble of limbs but the drop was short and their landing clear, even if it did hurt as they thumped onto the ground.

There was a moment of stunned silence.

Mari began to giggle. Something about the airy laugh, the shock at their entire situation, and the tight grip they each had on each other made Kanan join in and soon all three of them were breathless with laughter.

“A-are you two okay?” Kanan asked, pushing someone’s elbow away from her face.

“Yes!” Mari wheezed, gasping for air.

“I… think so,” Dia offered.

After a little longer, they untangled themselves and got to their feet. Mari was still grinning widely, pale gold eyes glimmering with mirth.

“That was fun,” she announced. “Thanks for that too!”

Mari unhooked the rope from her harness and after a pause, began to step back towards the building the other two had just forcefully exited.

“Wait!” Dia called out. “Who are you?”

The Ohara heir startled. Then, when her eyes scanned Dia and Kanan’s expectant faces and saw only curiosity, she smiled widely. “Hey, hey, let’s play a game,” she suggested. “I’ll tell you my name if you win.”

“Hah?” Dia muttered.

“What?” Kanan agreed.

Mari laughed, whirled, and darted down the street. “Can you catch me?” she called over her shoulder.

Kanan and Dia hesitated and then looked at each other. Dia smiled when she saw the hint of excitement blooming in her friend’s violet eyes.

The chase began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates will be slower (as some of you may have noticed), though I’m aiming for something around biweekly. This chapter took just a little bit longer because I kept playing around with some of the sections and then I kept getting distracted writing out sections for later chapters sooo…
> 
> Anyways, some thoughts about this chapter…
> 
> \- Heights are no obstacle for baby Mari but I really wonder what her canon parents were thinking raising her room to new levels each time she escaped. Also, the third year’s first meeting!  
> \- CYaRon’s implacable optimism is something I really admire  
> \- Hanamaru and Ruby protecting each other are my jam, but where Ruby fires up, Hanamaru very deliberately plans to meet with the scary people in charge in order to tell them off and wow what a brave zura.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The remaining members of AZALEA and CYaRon are hot on Guilty Kiss’s trail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this is a bit of a late post, have an extra long chapter with angst, a dash of spice, and of course some action.

You felt fine all the way past the phone call to Hanamaru. In fact, after it ended and Chika put away her phone, You managed to keep a calm smile on her face as she assured Chika that she was okay but that she needed to lie down. Chika had been there when the hospital had cleared her for injuries, after all. It was just very late and she was tired.

She made it past the act of shutting the door to her room behind her when she practically fell over onto her bed and began to shake. It wasn’t fear, not entirely.

It felt like she was still there, in the darkened streets and quick turns and short breaths where her vision narrowed in until all she could see was the car in front of her. Then, that brief breath before light and awareness had filled her vision as she practically flew across traffic and only her reflexes had saved her from being crunched into a pancake.

If asked, You would readily admit to being a bit of an adrenaline junkie. There was something about her body’s ability to move so freely when her mind centered around nothing but the present that she couldn’t help but seek out.

And of course, with the exhausting backdrop that was her half-avoiding Chika while still keeping up with work, You found herself craving more of that feeling. She was moving, running, going on ill-advised car-chases, all to find a way to dredge up that almost serene confidence.

But the chase was done and the reality of the near miss with the car collision was finally sinking in. You had almost died and but she had felt _excited_. The sudden end to the chase had diverted her attention but now that she was back and safe…

In the wake of the adrenaline was heat, thudding low and frantic in time with her heart.

She burned.

You glanced over at the door. It was closed, still and silent, and she had seen Chika yawning as she went to her own room. She debated for just a moment, but it had been a while and the ache of desire grew even as she considered it.

She licked her lips and her hand drifted down, sliding against the skin of her navel and skirting the waistband of her pants. Shaky, but not tentative. She felt drunk, yet fully aware as she reveled in the aphrodisiac that was being alive.

She thought of Chika, throwing herself around You in a hug filled with relief. Their bodies had pressed close and she could smell the remnants of Chika’s perfume from the gala—not citrus, but something smoother, fuller.

Her fingers slid down.

You’s eyelids fluttered as her hand stoked that different sort of excitement through her body.

She did not bother going slow.

You was already so close, grasping for that final moment. Her thoughts were scattering, but for one constant: Chika. Always Chika.

Her body tensed tighter and tighter.

“You-chan?”

You’s eyes shot open at the voice from behind her closed door, but she was too far gone to stop. Instead, she bit her lip, swallowing all sound back until her body unwound languidly and her sense of awareness spread out once more.

“You-chan? Are you asleep?” Chika’s voice dropped to a whisper.

You slowly got to her feet, just a little wobbly.

“G-give me a bit,” she called, ducking towards her bathroom. As she washed her hands, she eyed her hair critically but a quick brush got rid of the worst of the tangles. Her bed…

She didn’t have time to fix that, but there wasn’t much she could do before Chika got too impatient and tried to poke her way in.

“I’m awake,” she said, opening the door.

“Oh good,” Chika said. She looked… angry? “I decided this couldn’t wait.”

Then she stepped forward, grabbing You’s wrists so she couldn’t retreat and then she stepped so close, their heads collided. She didn’t even seem phased by the pain even as You recoiled in shock. “Wha-? Chika-chan?”

“What were you thinking chasing a lead alone?” Chika demanded. At odds with the fury of her words was the tender way she moved her head forward once more, a silent apology in the way she pressed her forehead against You’s.

You didn’t get a chance to say anything as her best friend continued.

“I care about you!” The grip on You’s wrists tightened. “So, don’t you dare run off alone like that again!”

You inhaled shakily.

“I don't care if you're changing jobs or leaving or whatever it is. We’re partners. We always will,” Chika said harshly. “Do you remember?”

You swallowed and nodded. “We do this together,” she murmured.

She hesitated and then straightened. This was her chance. She had to tell Chika now—

Chika’s phone rang and she drew back. She didn’t pick it up straight away, however, instead looking at You questioningly. _What is it?_ Her eyes asked.

But You shook her head, courage dissipating. The call was probably important if it came at this time. It could wait.

She could wait.

(-)(-)(-)

Leah opened her eyes from her light doze when there was a rare moment of silence rather than the sound of shuffling paper, the scratch of a pen, or the quiet murmur of Hanamaru’s voice asking her question after question.

She struggled a bit to rewind her last few words. She had been tiredly answering the questions for the past several hours until it had been less a conversation and more her just emitting sounds in a hazy auto pilot. When her brain finally dredged up what she had just said, Leah jerked up, feeling more awake.

“A bounty, zura?” Hanamaru asked with deadly calm, that sharp steel returning to her visage.

Leah immediately rushed to placate the officer. “I’m not helping you in order to,” she made a face, “ _steal_ the bounty. There’s a reason why we didn’t stay at headquarters. This is off the books.”

She waved a hand around them.

They sat in an unobtrusive corner of a pleasant little tea house despite the fact that it was completely empty. Unsurprising, since it was closed due to the late (or technically early) hour. Hanamaru had mentioned something vaguely about knowing the owners before unlocking the entrance and bringing Leah inside.

The aroma of brewing tea and the comfortable atmosphere of the place was quite the opposite of what Leah normally spent time in.

Hanamaru looked at Leah for a moment, considering what she said. Finally, she nodded, slumping her shoulders in exhaustion. She lifted her hands and rubbed her eyes from behind her glasses.

It was, after all, almost dawn and the officer had been up all night on top of the entire previous day.

The table in front of her was covered sloppily in maps and a small spot for Hanamaru's tea. There was the large map of the city set out for reference, but Hanamaru’s unwavering focus had been turned towards the other, equally expansive map of the Ghost District.

The map had been steadily covered in marks and scribbles as the officer made her way through all the known factors in the area that Leah could provide, like safe houses, agents, and drop-off points.

Leah knew that if she was caught giving an _officer_ that info, she would probably have to skip chopping off a finger and go straight to committing seppuku to atone.

She tried not to think of that.

Instead, she took a sip of tea to clear her dry throat and leaned over to peer at the map curiously. “Do you really think you can find them?” she finally asked the question that had been tickling the back of her mind. “Neither your police force nor my clan have successfully managed to figure out the district and you’re just one person on a strict time limit looking at a map.”

“Zura…” Hanamaru replied absently, which told Leah nothing.

“…”

Hanamaru looked up as if she sensed Leah shooting daggers at her with her eyes. “There is no way I can find them with just this, zura,” she admitted freely. “But with your information, I can get good places to start.”

“That’s impossible,” Leah said shortly, heart sinking. “Even if you had only a couple places to search, just a single block would take too much time to canvas.”

“Leah-chan,” Hanamaru said serenely.

“What?”

“Let me do my job, zura.”

Leah made a face but surrendered in the face of Hanamaru’s confidence. “I don’t get it,” she said slowly as she watched Hanamaru make a couple more notes on the map. “If you’re so effective and you’re a part of AZALEA, why are you still an officer and not a higher rank?”

Hanamaru looked away too quickly for Leah to read her face but her shoulders tilted minutely inward and she began to fiddle with her pen. “It is what it is,” Hanamaru mumbled. “I just help solve the cases. That’s all that matters.” She smiled a little, an awkward twist of her lips. “There are more important things than me.”

They fell silent at Hanamaru’s self-deprecating statement.

_Why do I speak?_ Leah thought, irritated. She grasped for something to say to break the lengthening silence. “So, Ghost District,” she said awkwardly, picking up her cup of tea once more. “They have to be there and not somewhere in the north end of the city?”

“Yes,” Hanamaru agreed, willingly moving back to their old topic. “The abductors may later move north to hide or try to exit via the port, but as of right now they should be in the Ghost District.” She smiled sadly. “It's the smartest choice… and Yoshiko-chan is a bit predictable. Even when it came to hide and seek.”

Leah dropped her cup and it clattered to the floor.

Hanamaru looked at her in alarm.

“You _know_ the abducto—wait, did you say ‘Yoshiko-chan’?” Leah asked, ignoring the spill to stare at Hanamaru.

“She was the last person I saw with Ruby,” Hanamaru admitted. Her face tightened at the memory.

_“Protect her, Yoshiko-chan.”_

“I’m not sure if she did it,” Hanamaru added, though even as she said that, she had little hope. _She hadn’t wanted to make the promise and You-chan said…_ “But you know her?”

“I can’t believe this,” Leah muttered, finally gathering herself enough to start cleaning the spill. “It’s Guilty Kiss. It has to be.”

“Guilty Kiss?”

“They’re…” Leah trailed away, trying to figure out a way to describe the trio. “They’re a group of… unaffiliated mercenaries. They started showing up a little after that bombing years ago, but they’re good enough that I have no idea if they worked before that.”

Leah paused.

“Wait a second. If you knew who took Ruby, why go to me and ask if we did it?” she demanded.

“I knew Yoshiko-chan,” Hanamaru repeated. “Back then… she wanted to become part of the yakuza, zura. I thought that if she had done this then it had to be because of… that there was an order. If so, then you’d know… right?”

“We’re not the only clan here,” Leah pointed out, frowning. “Perhaps the Ohara clan? But I’m sure Guilty Kiss is unaffiliated. They wouldn’t have so much contact with us otherwise.”

“Of course, the Ohara clan is an option,” Hanamaru frowned. “It might be possible if one of their members is Ohara Mari-san—”

Leah shook her head. “She’s obviously not fully Japanese and no respectable clan would let that stand.”

“Hmmm…” Hanamaru decided to put that line of thought to the side and stood up. “I should go back to the precinct, zura. I need to confirm my notes and then find Ruby-chan and Dia-san.”

But though she tried to put it all aside, another thought persisted. _If she’s not a yakuza member… she did this by choice?_ Hanamaru bit her lip. Perhaps Yoshiko had changed. Perhaps she wasn’t as predictable as Hanamaru had thought.

Just how far had Yoshiko fallen?

(-)(-)(-)

Bad luck was so common in Yoshiko’s life even as a young child that, looking back, she wasn’t too surprised that her first encounter with the Yakuza after they moved in to Numazu was of two people, a man and a woman, facing each other at knife point. The woman was protecting a blonde girl who was fighting to keep a blank expression on her face.

And of course, the moment Yoshiko froze in shock, all three of the people noticed her.

Then, taking advantage of the distraction, the woman tripped the man and leapt on him. She moved so smoothly, so quickly that Yoshiko could only stare in awe.

She was like an angel! Well, a dark angel. A fallen—?

“Mari, go!” the woman shouted.

The blonde shot off, grabbing Yoshiko’s hand as she ran by.

“Wha—”

Yoshiko stumbled after her, trying not to fall over from the sudden pull.

They ran until both children were wheezing and almost falling over each other from the effort and they were far, far away from that little alley.

The blonde girl took her hand back in order to bend over her knees, panting. Yoshiko skipped that step and went straight for collapsing on the ground. But when she pushed herself up moments later, she was almost quivering with excitement rather than exhaustion.

“Who was that lady?” she demanded, staring wide-eyed at Mari. “How did she do that? She was so _cool!_ The way she went _bam!_ and _pow!_ and, and—” She had to pause to continue gasping for breath but she gesticulated wildly to make up for her loss of words.

Mari gave her a strange look before shrugging. “She’s part of the Family,” she explained. “They gotta be strong like that.”

“So cool…” Yoshiko breathed. She clasped her hands together beseechingly. “C-can I join your family?”

The Ohara heir blinked owlishly and then burst out laughing.

She did not stop for a very long time.

 

That response happened the next few times Yoshiko brought it up, even after Yoshiko had learned more about what ‘the Family’ meant—about Yakuza and hushed whispers and violence and fear.

But though Yoshiko would almost forget her desire for months at a time, it would always come up again and she persisted over the next several years. At first it stemmed from how sometimes some of the adults from the clan would visit the daycare to share gifts and stories. They talked about a loyal family tied together by bonds of trust who helped the needy and fought danger. Their tales were ones of adventure and heroism.

Most of all, each yakuza member seemed so special. They were people who had experienced the glamour of the city and who seemed somehow destined for excitement.

 And even though Yoshiko’s mother never approved of them and tried to remind Yoshiko of it every day, she never stopped the people from coming either.

Mari’s laughs became less and less frequent each time Yoshiko asked, instead replaced by little frowns and a furrowed brow until Yoshiko would say something about being a fallen angel in search of little demons. The smile would usually return and then she would shake her head and change the subject.

Then one day, Yoshiko looked at Mari and said, “Aren’t you joining the clan? Why can’t I?”

“I have no choice. My mother’s trying to get you, but you shouldn’t let her,” Mari shot back quietly underneath the rather loud background noise of the other kids at the daycare. The loudest was the newest girl, a normally quiet, well-behaved redhead who was tearing by them, shrieking at the top of her lungs as a dog barked cheerfully after her.

“I’ve never even talked to your mother,” Yoshiko said confusedly.

“It might not seem that way,” Mari said ominously. “My mother gets what she wants, but this is something I have to stop.”

There was something desolate in Mari’s gaze before she hid it quickly with a smile.

Yoshiko drew back, frustrated but a little shaken by the glimpse of such shadows on the other girl’s face. But while her questioning petered away for a bit, her conviction only strengthened as her desire to join the clan shifted. Not to be special. Not for adventure. Not entirely.

She couldn’t quite put it into words at that moment, but she knew she still wanted to. So she stopped asking but she tucked the desire away safely.

One day.

 

When Riko joined their little group of friends, Yoshiko’s campaign started anew.

Mari did not seem happy about their alliance and had taken to finding creative ways to distract them. The most recent one had involved a tiny, adorable dog that had even managed to chip at Riko’s mysterious, dog-fearing heart.

Though the usually calm redhead did not particularly care about Yoshiko’s plans to join a criminal empire, when they bent over a growing list of reasons to join, she threw in as much effort as Yoshiko did.

“You really care about joining,” Riko answered when Yoshiko asked her why she was helping her. They were holed up in Yoshiko’s room trying to figure out more reasons to throw at the Ohara heir. Mari was gone, attending some meeting with her mother. “That sort of feeling—that way you throw yourself in it so deeply is something I want to find too.” And then, shyly, “And… if it will help you, I want to help too.”

Yoshiko looked down, warmed. “Thanks,” she muttered gruffly.

“This will help Mari too, I think,” Riko confided.

“Yeah,” Yoshiko agreed. “She’s alone there. I’ve always hated that.”

The two came to a realization all at once when they registered what Yoshiko had just said.

“That’s it.”

That was the heart of the matter.

They didn’t bother writing down that final reason.

Instead, they spent the next hour waiting for Mari to return and when she did, the two stepped up, boxing her in on either side. As one, they stared unblinkingly at the already-frowning Ohara heir.

“We don’t want to join the yakuza,” Riko began.

“We want to join _you_ ,” Yoshiko finished.

Mari stuttered, forgetting her frown in the face of simultaneous gratitude and shock. Then she sighed, far too heavily for a girl her age. “You two do realize what the clan _does_ , right?” She looked between them grimly. “Eventually, everyone will… we’ll kill. Hurt people. Ruin lives… There are sacrifices to be made.”

The two exchanged glances and knew they would continue. “It’s our choice,” Yoshiko finally said. “And we’ll do it. Because you shouldn’t be alone in there. We’re family.”

(-)(-)(-)

“Recruit Takami.” The police instructor’s voice was a quiet request and not a shouted demand but Chika leapt out of the dormitory bed, thrown out of her sleepy doze. She fell in a heap on the ground and blinked up confusedly.

“Huh? Um. Yes ma’am?” Chika asked. She glanced anxiously at her bedside but it was still in the nebulous time between afternoon and evening. There were no classes for her to be late for and dinner was far off.

An exasperated but affectionate sigh was her answer. “Head over to the office by classroom 4F. Someone wants to meet you.” She smiled and patted Chika’s shoulder. “Good luck, Chika-san.” Without waiting for a reply, the instructor walked off leaving Chika scrambling to get her brain operating from her nap and the shock of the sudden usage of her first name.

A couple minutes later, Chika made it to the correct door. It looked like it led to one of the unlabeled office rooms scattered throughout the building that she had never taken notice of through her training. She was familiar with the room beside it though – that room belonged to one of the police academy’s sparring rooms.

She knocked. “Hello?” she called.

A moment later, the door opened. Chika straightened herself, prepared to face a stranger but met You’s confused blue eyes instead. “Chika-chan?”

“You-chan?”

“Were you called here too?” You asked.

“Yeah,” Chika nodded. “What’s happening, You-chan?”

“We’re not sure. She just told us to wait here and not touch anything and then hurried out of here…” You said shrugging. She stepped back and let Chika into the room.

It was… kind of creepy in a cute sort of way, Chika thought. The room was dark with all the lights off and the blinds to the window shut. There were several dolls sitting around on bookshelves and the desk, eyes wide and staring at the two people in the room.

Wait…

A shadow moved and Chika jumped when she realized there was a third.

“Can you keep the door open?” a soft voice asked tremulously.

“It is kind of creepy when it’s all dark, huh?” You asked sympathetically. “Sure. Hopefully Kurobane-san won’t mind.”

“Introductions!” Chika exclaimed once You had stepped back from the door. “I’m Takami Chika! Nice to meet you!”

“I-I’m K-kurosawa Ruby…” Ruby peered back at her and then ducked her head. “N-nice to meet you.”

“Oh wait, you’re the cutie in our cohort that I always pass by in the morning!”

Ruby squeaked a bit at that description even as You laughed. “Sorry Ruby-chan, that’s just how Chika-chan is.” She nudged Chika companionably, a gesture Chika returned.

“Well we were called here for some reason,” Chika wondered aloud. “But why?” She grinned and bounced a little on the balls of her feet. “I don’t think it’s anything bad. Maybe we’re getting promoted early! I heard a girl in another cohort did. Kuni…ka or something?”

“Kunikida,” You corrected. Ruby made a noise of comprehension but didn’t say anything as You continued, “And I doubt it’s an early promotion. Some other recruits told me that you have to test out and I know neither of us—” she gestured at herself and Chika “—did that.”

They looked at Ruby and she shook her head. “I didn’t take the test either,” she said. “But I noticed Kurobane-san was holding forms… they looked like transfer requests.”

There was a moment of silence as they pondered that new piece of information.

“When you put it that way,” You began.

“It sounds like we’re being scouted,” Chika finished.

A shadow cut across the light from the doorway before it opened and they all turned. It was a woman without a hint of expression on her face as she regarded them. Still expressionless,  she put her hands together and clapped slowly.

“Intuition.” She looked at Chika. “Charisma.” Her eyes drifted to You. “And attention to detail.” She finished the circuit with Ruby. “That is what brought you three to our attention,” she continued as she stepped into the room and turned on the light. There was the tiniest uptick of her lips as she surveyed the three. “We would like to offer you three an… opportunity.”

(-)(-)(-)

When Yoshiko woke up, everyone in the apartment had succumbed to sleep or were still asleep. Even Mari was mostly in Morpheus’ realm though she stirred and woke up when Yoshiko entered the room.

“Whoops,” Mari murmured, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

“I can take over,” Yoshiko said. “Go rest, my little demon.”

Mari smiled a little and didn’t even bother moving, just curling up more tightly on her seat like a cat. Soon her breathing deepened and some of the tension in her body drained away. Shaking her head, Yoshiko went to grab a blanket to drape over her partner.

When she couldn’t find the extra blankets, she surveyed the room more closely. The first rays of sunlight were starting to filter in from the window though the room was still dim with shadow. Dia was looking uncomfortable where she was sleeping in her hard-backed chair though Mari had apparently given her a few small pillows and a blanket. The same had been provided for Ruby, explaining the missing blankets.

Yoshiko considered and then went to get out one of her extra cloaks to drape over Mari as a makeshift blanket.

Yohane would always provide for her little demons.

She finished tucking Mari in and picked up a book from the floor (had Mari been reading it? Yoshiko hoped so. Perhaps she’d finally realize that some rituals needed her to _stay still_.)

Then she heard a soft thump and a whimper and Yoshiko turned around. She immediately noticed that there was a very important, missing piece in the room.

Ruby was gone.

The book dropped from her hands and she whirled, spinning around in a quick circle to make sure her eyes were not deceiving her. Dia was still in her chair snoozing regally but her little sister—

A small part of her was screaming hysterically about ghosts and magic but most of her was screaming internally because _how did she escape_ and _how do you lose someone with bright pink hair?_

“Mari!” Yoshiko said urgently. “Mari, wake up! She’s gone!”

Yoshiko went to run out of the room when Mari’s hand pulled her back. “Keep an eye on Dia,” Mari ordered tiredly. “I’ll go look and wake Riko.”

She headed out the room and Yoshiko gnawed her lip worriedly. The fallen angel began to pace, keeping one eye on Dia and one eye on the door as best she could. But Yoshiko being Yoshiko, she accidentally tripped over the book on the floor. She got a glimpse of wide green eyes from a very familiar person hiding in the shadows at the far side of the room before her head collided with Ruby’s face with a crack.

Two screams broke the air.

Then, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY SISTER?!” Dia roared.

Yoshiko leaped backwards, clutching at her head. Ruby was whimpering slightly as she clutched at her bloodied nose with one hand.

“What’s going on?” Riko’s voice asked.

“YOU DARE HURT RUBY—”

“I didn’t mean to!”

“I-I’m fine, Onee-chan. I think…”

“WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU—”

Yoshiko was getting really concerned because Dia looked like she could actually manage to somehow break the handcuffs through sheer rage.

“Go help Ruby-chan,” Riko said quietly to Yoshiko as she moved past the duo. “I’ll… deal with Dia-san.”

“I’ll help you, Riko,” Mari said from the doorway. She took a moment to rub her face before moving in as well.

Yoshiko didn’t argue. She latched a firm grip onto the pink-haired escape artist and dragged her away from her furious older sister. Little whimpers escaped Ruby but Yoshiko only glanced at her worriedly before practically throwing them into the small bathroom.

Only when the door closed and Dia’s shouting had stopped did Yoshiko relax. However, it was only when she had finished pulling out their first aid kit that she realized that throughout the entire process Ruby had neither fought to escape nor did she seemed too worried about being in a room with just Yoshiko for company.

To be fair, the room was so small, even Ruby would have trouble getting out without tripping over Yoshiko.

She sat quietly on the edge of the bathtub though she seemed to be in a surprising amount of pain.

“Are you okay?” Yoshiko asked worriedly. “Here let me…”

She reached out and Ruby surrendered her nose easily to be carefully cleaned of blood. “It’s fine, just a little b-blood,” Ruby stuttered.

“But you look like it hurts a lot,” Yoshiko observed, squinting at Ruby suspiciously.

“My…” A spasm of pain crossed her face. “My leg is cramped.”

Yoshiko winced. “Oh. That’s why you didn’t escape earlier, huh?” She reached out questioningly and Ruby nodded in answer to the silent question.

“Well that was because I can’t leave my sister,” Ruby frowned. “Owowow.” She devolved into whimpers as Yoshiko slowly massaged the stiffened muscle.

“We’ll go get you some water after this,” Yoshiko said. “But I can’t leave you alone. How did you even get out of the handcuffs?”

Ruby smiled nervously. “That’s a secret,” she said.

Yoshiko snorted, half-smiling. “I suppose I can let you have that one because you aren’t going to get out again after this.”

The room was quiet as Yoshiko continued working, her fingers moving gently.

“Can I… ask you a question?” Ruby asked as her body relaxed under Yoshiko’s ministrations.

Yoshiko raised an eyebrow at her but bit back a smart comment and just nodded. “You may reveal your mind to Yohane,” she allowed graciously.

“It seems like none of you wanted to kidnap us… So why did you do it? It can’t be just money—Ow!”

“Sorry,” Yoshiko said quickly, withdrawing her hands from where they had tensed over the poor muscle. “What makes you think it’s not money? 3 billion is a lot you know,” she deflected.

Ruby blinked at her with clear eyes. Trusting, even after being drugged and held hostage and hit in the face (albeit accidentally, but _still_ ). It almost made Yoshiko angry how Ruby looked at her as if she were _good_.

“What?” Yoshiko snapped. “Is it too hard to believe that the fallen angel Yohane and her little demons desire simple riches?”

Ruby nodded emphatically.

“That’s… naïve,” Yoshiko settled for saying after a moment of quiet disbelief.

Ruby murmured doubtfully but didn’t push the issue. Instead, she said seriously, “It’s not too late for you to stop doing this. My friends will find us eventually. They are very good at what they do.”

“We’ll see about that,” Yoshiko said noncommittally.  “ _We_ are very good at what we do too.” She stood up and went to the door. Before she could open it, Ruby spoke up again.

“You never answered Ruby’s question, Yohane-chan.” Again, she spoke in that baffling paradox of soft shyness and firm, unwavering trust. “Why are you doing this?”

 Yoshiko sighed heavily and closed her eyes. “Tell me, little Kurosawa. You are here because of your sister – in more ways than one. What does your family mean to you?”

She turned around and opened her arms wide, stretching it as far as she could as if they were wings and she were about to take flight.

But then her arms fell back to her sides limply. She was still there, still Yoshiko. “I fell with them.” She smiled wistfully. “But after this, I can _fly_ with them.”

(-)(-)(-)

Before Kanan could set off to storm one of the nearby residences connected to Mari as noted in the Ohara heir’s rather impeccable record, the papers were plucked from her hands and one of the nearby sergeants rapped her hard on her forehead.

“You are going to rest, Matsuura-san,” she chided.

As much as Kanan wanted to begin the hunt for Mari immediately, she could admit doing so in her current state probably wouldn’t do much. For one, she was barely staying awake and on her feet. Everything ached and she knew mistakes would help no one. For another, it was the middle of the night and if she were turned away from the door, no judge would issue a warrant for the _Ohara heir_ and not for a “feeling” that Mari was involved with the entire mess. Kanan was popular, but she did not have that much sway.

So Kanan resigned herself to some hours of restless sleep, passing in and out of hazy memories and strange dreams—of Dia lying while scratching her mole and of Mari smiling and smiling until, like the Cheshire cat, she had vanished into thin air.

Kanan woke up not long after, feeling discomforted and somehow even worse than before. All of that vanished however, when she saw the message waiting for her on her phone.

She made it to the station in record time, nearly tripping over several people in her haste to make it into the filing room. But relief welled up when she saw Hanamaru looking exhausted but whole and healthy, surrounded by open case files.

“You’re okay Hanamaru-chan,” Kanan breathed.

Then, Hanamaru had the gall to look at her with a politely puzzled face as she said, “Of course I am, zura.”

Kanan frowned severely at her.

“I have a lead, zura,” Hanamaru said and the irritation vanished once more.

The taller detective sank down to her knees on the floor to peer at the map Hanamaru had stretched out in front of her. “What do you have?”

“Here.” Hanamaru tapped a spot she had marked on the map. “This building is the most likely spot. It’s—”

“Good work,” Kanan said, getting to her feet. “I’ll go check it out right now.”

Hanamaru nodded and got to her feet as well. “Who else are we bringing, zura?”

“No.”

“Zura?”

“You’re not going,” Kanan decided firmly.

Her smaller partner’s eyebrows shot up in astonishment and more than a little hurt. “Why not?”

“Because,” here, Kanan stumbled. “You’re tired. You haven’t had any sleep, have you?”

“We’ve had worse, zura,” Hanamaru argued.

“I can convince some other officers to help me who aren’t asleep at their feet,” Kanan shot back, determinedly ignoring the fact that the Chief would _not_ be happy about her appropriating officers for a job she had specifically given to only the remaining members of AZALEA.

“I can _help_ ,” Hanamaru stressed. “I know the area best.”

Kanan gritted her teeth. “It’s fine. I’ll have your map.”

“The map can’t tell you everything.”

“You have less experience. You’re only an officer,” Kanan exclaimed, frustrated. And then clamped her mouth shut.

Hanamaru stared at her for a moment and then shook her head very slowly. “I will pretend you never said that, zura,” she stated calmly. “What is the real reason, Kanan-san?”

Kanan flinched. The excuses dried up on her tongue. “Dia was my responsibility,” she began quietly. “And I failed. I can’t fail you too.”

“I’m not yours to protect. Not like this, zura,” Hanamaru replied, equally quiet. “Now let’s go to the Chief and get a squad out to rescue them.”

“No need,” someone said from the doorway. “I’m here and you two have a problem.”

(-)(-)(-)

Despite being well-liked and working quite well with most other officers, the beginning of Kanan’s career was a constant flow of partner after partner. Kanan’s assigned partners just never lasted very long. Though they honestly seemed sad and regretful at changing partners, there was always an air of relief about them too when Kanan was informed that she would once again go partnerless.

It was not hard to figure out why when the 5th officer in as many months began snarling at her about how he was _her_ partner and had not signed up to be partners with Kurosawa Dia too.

_That_ split had neither been sad nor regretful. He may or may not have gained a dented face in the process.

The chief of police had sighed a little but had left Kanan to her own devices for the next few months, choosing instead to let her work solo. It had been a smart move: Kanan was soon chomping at the bit when bigger, more dangerous cases passed her by or when she was limited in the scope of her investigations because she needed to bring backup and there was no one readily available at the precinct.

But Kanan could no more separate herself from Dia than she could chop off her leg.

They had been together through everything: idyllic childhoods, shared family deaths and the following healing, through fiery teenage years, and the exhausting law school and police academy years.

She made do, working with whichever officers were free whenever she needed backup, and solo the rest of the time.

 

But then, during a particularly tough case hunting down a serial killer, she noticed one of the newer rookies seemingly always working through files in the filing room. Kanan was at a standstill as she waited for one of her semi-normal partners to finish up another case before providing backup on a lead so she was verifying some facts.

With nothing else to do, Kanan came to a stop before the rookie. “Hanamaru-san, right?” she asked.

Hanamaru jumped, looking surprised that someone had entered and that she had been acknowledged. “Yeah, zura,” she clapped her hands over her mouth. “Ah mean, yes. Zura. Dangit. Yes.” She groaned.

“Um…”

“Sorry, zura. My accent,” Hanamaru said through her hands. “I can’t help it.”

“It’s fine,” Kanan shrugged. “I’m just wondering why I always see you here. Why aren’t you ever out on patrol? Where’s your mentor?”

Hanamaru shrugged. “He said I’d be more useful cleaning up files, zura,” she said.

“ _What?!_ ” Kanan snarled, half whirling as if she were about to march right out to hunt down Hanamaru’s mentor at that moment.

“No no no, don’t be angry, zura,” Hanamaru rushed. “I’m actually really good at this sort of thing ya know. Here, zura.” She stood up. “I noticed you lookin' at the files for the WL-3 case, but I checked and that’s too long ago, zura. The habits _seem_ similar but are totally different.”

Hanamaru went over to a shelf and pulled out a different set of files as Kanan followed her curiously.

“But look at these cold cases, zura. Here… and here…”

Kanan inhaled sharply.

“See, zura?”

Kanan leaned forward, eyes scanning down the documents. “This is… This is... You’re right! And you just… noticed this?” She turned to look at Hanamaru searchingly.

“I was curious about what you were lookin’ at a couple hours ago, zura,” Hanamaru shrugged. “I was gonna bring it up, uh, the next time I saw you, zura.”

Kanan looked a bit longer and then she smiled slowly. “Okay, Hanamaru-chan.” She leaned over and the rookie officer blinked up at her. “How would you like to work with me on this case?”

(-)(-)(-)

“You told Sergeant Shiga where to go?” the Chief of Police demanded from the doorway.

“She helped me figure out which spot was our target, zura,” Hanamaru said. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“You just set one of our trigger-happy loose cannons on a hostage rescue. I need you to go get to your lead before the sergeant and her crew does.”

“Oh no,” Hanamaru muttered.

Kanan eyed Hanamaru but bit back her protests and just nodded in agreement as they both started to move towards the door. “We should go then. How much of a lead do they have?”

“Not long, but we’ll have to risk a bit longer,” Chief said. She looked around and closed the door behind her. “Listen close you two,” she said seriously. “Nothing good’s happening right now. Whoever showed their hand today by revealing our compromised forces has a lot more sway than I expected. Their officers are back in the precinct and I’m under ‘investigation.’ Things around here might change and you must _be careful who you trust_.”

The two gaped at her as they tried to understand what had just been said.

“W-what do you mean, zura?” Hanamaru asked nervously.

Chief smiled at her tiredly. “Exactly what you think.” She hesitated. “But I’m not leaving you alone. I have some people who can help.”

“Who?” Kanan and Hanamaru asked.

“They’re top agents so I think you’ll be in good hands.” The Chief smiled mysteriously and opened the door. “Come on in,” she said to the space outside.

When Chika and You walked in, Kanan felt her polite smile drop off faster than a blink.

You’s salute slipped down limply in the face of the growing scowl on the detective’s face. “Y-yousoro?” You tried weakly.

Kanan could not deal with this right now.

“I’m heading out,” Kanan said brusquely, pushing her way out the door.

_Why?_ She thought angrily, trying not to shake. Those two were supposed to be _safe_. She had been panicked enough at the thought of losing Hanamaru on top of Dia and Ruby, but now? How could she protect everyone like this?

(-)(-)(-)

When polite threats and even some pleading didn’t work at calming Dia down, Riko turned to Mari anxiously. The blonde smiled mysteriously and very casually dangled a ball gag in front of their ranting captive.

Riko _really_ didn’t want to ask, but… “ _Why do you have that?_ ” she asked, long-suffering.

“You wouldn’t,” Dia said at the same time, horrified, her voice dropping to a normal volume.

Mari hummed and shrugged. “Is it uncomfortable on that chair? I suppose we could move you to the bedroom.” She had the audacity to wink.

Dia’s mouth dropped in outrage.

“Mari, please. Just. Let me deal with this,” Riko sighed heavily. To Dia she added, “Would you like some tea?” It was a peace offering and apology all in one.

Dia hesitated and then nodded. “Yes please. I think I’ll need it,” she added the last part under her breath but Riko heard and she agreed mentally.

As she went to the kitchen area facing out into the room, she saw Mari bend over Dia, a cold mask of indifference on her face. “Just a couple more days and you won’t be our problem,” Mari purred. “So play nice, okay Di-a?”

Riko bit her lip as she turned away and set teapot on the stovetop. What was Mari playing at? It was like she was trying to piss off their captive or scare her in turns.

“I don’t play nice with criminals,” Dia replied stiffly.

Mari chuckled and withdrew. “Indeed.” She walked over to Riko who looked at her from the corner of her eye. There was a wistful expression on her face beneath her usual smile.

Riko took a quick glance behind her at Dia who was looking off to the side, her brow furrowed in thought. Despite being practically in the same room, the little island divide and facing away from each other provided the illusion of privacy that Riko took advantage of when she turned back to Mari.

“What are you doing?” she asked, confused. “With Dia,” she clarified quickly before Mari could reply.

Mari blinked at her. “She’s a smart woman,” Guilty Kiss’s strategist replied after a moment. “I need to make sure she isn’t thinking too much about what a mess this is.”

Riko sighed at the reminder, staring at the kettle in front of her. Guilty Kiss had always operated in the shadows. Leaving no trace was practically one of their signatures in and of itself. And now…

“Yes, this really is a mess isn’t it?” Riko agreed solemnly.

Things were changing again, another shift in their way of life. Years ago, when Guilty Kiss had first formed, Riko had, against all odds, truly fallen in love with their weird little group. It was a passion she had felt sometimes when playing the piano—working jobs with her partners in crime had made her feel that same electricity.

She felt _alive_.

Perhaps some of it had been her youth coloring her vision, but Riko knew it had also really been simpler when they had been part of the Ohara Clan. And then one job, 5 years ago, had changed everything and the spark of their jobs had died along with the lives of others.

With this job, Riko knew things were changing once more but she didn’t know which way things were turning.

They had taken their gamble and now all they could do was wait to see if fortune was in their cards.

After a couple minutes Riko absently began pouring out the tea. She took one over to Dia who thanked her politely after Riko uncuffed one of her hands so she could hold her drink. Despite her current situation, Dia looked regal and slightly lonely where she sat, draped in her blanket and holding a cup of tea slightly awkwardly in one hand.

Riko nodded and made her way back to Mari, giving Dia her space.

The blonde was leaning against the counter, keeping her back resolutely towards Dia. Riko joined her, cautiously pressing the side of her body against Mari’s. Though Mari was quite exuberant in giving out affectionate touches, she had always been a bit more reserved when others did so to her.

But Mari did not refuse the company and pressed back a little as she watched the remnants of steam drift up from the kettle.

“What will we do when this is over?” Riko wondered, cradling her own cup in her hands.

“Vacation?” Mari suggested, smiling a little. “We can explore the world.”

“That would be nice,” Riko agreed thoughtfully. “Like where?”

The amusement was fully evident in Mari’s voice, but the mischievous little grin when she turned to look at Riko was warning enough that teasing was incoming. “The Great Wall of China,” Mari offered.

“Why?” Riko asked suspiciously. There was a flash of movement as Yoshiko entered the room once more.

“Wouldn’t a great wall be the best place to explore kabekui?” the fallen angel asked, smirking.

“Kabekui?” Ruby asked innocently.

“ _Do not_ listen to them,” Riko said quickly, almost dropping her cup of tea in her haste to silence the grinning menaces by kicking at their shins. “Anyways, are you okay?” Both she and Mari eyed Ruby with some concern.

“Yes,” Ruby fidgeted. “Yohane-chan was very nice.”

“It’s Yoshiko! …Wait.”

Riko smirked into her cup of tea, eyes trained on Yoshiko. “You still haven’t managed to break yourself out of that one,” she noted.

Mari chuckled. “I see you’re getting a handle on Yoshiko-chan. Good on you,” she said airily to Ruby.

Suddenly, her phone rang and she glanced away, raising the device to her ear. “Okay, thanks,” she said after a very short pause before lowering the phone and staring at Riko and Yoshiko with more than a little frustration.

“We have to go. They know we’re here.”

(-)(-)(-)

Of course, the fresh shot of hope for a rescue meant the Kurosawa siblings dug in their heels in the face of evacuation. “Do you really think we’d just go along with your escape?” Dia scoffed, doing her best to scoot away from Yoshiko.

Ruby was tense as well, standing stiffly and looking ready to bolt the moment anyone that wasn’t her sister tried to move in her direction.

Mari didn’t even bother trying to talk to the captives, leaving Yoshiko and Riko to decide how to best subdue their charges as she faded back, thinking furiously.

There was something… _off_ about the entire scenario that she had been wondering about since the previous night but she couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Now, though, her instincts were screaming at her. She needed to figure out what it was and fast.

What was it that was niggling at her that her contact had said…?

“ _Your position is compromised. They’re after the heir._ ”

After the—

Mari clapped her hands together, the sound cutting through the arguments and the others fell silent. “I need to know one thing,” Mari said, looking at Ruby and Dia. Twin looks of mulish stubbornness faced her expectantly. Mari licked her lips and asked, “Dia’s not the heir, is she?”

Everyone in the room froze.

Dia rallied admirably with a disbelieving scoff, but Mari just turned an expectant gaze to Ruby who hesitated and then nodded.

“Ruby!” Dia growled angrily, an undercurrent of terror threading through her voice.

Ruby flinched a little but looked determinedly back. “She already knows, Onee-chan,” she said. “You figured out last night, didn’t you?”

Mari tilted her head silently.

“So you were willing to pretend to be the heir and take her place,” Riko muttered, staring at Dia. “If everybody believes you are the heir, you are the one who…”

“Then I am the target,” Dia agreed, giving up all pretenses and settling back on her chair as best she could.

“I thought it was odd how vague the bounty was,” Mari murmured. “But did they know Dia wasn’t the heir or did they just not care?” A new host of questions swirled around in her mind, but she had no answers. There was only one conclusion she knew she could make.

“What does this mean?” Yoshiko asked, eyes darting back and forth between her partners and their captives quickly.

“It means we can’t stay together,” Mari murmured.

Riko and Yoshiko’s heads snapped her way. “I hope that was a joke,” Riko said seriously.

Mari’s lips quirked up a little. “No, I’m afraid not.”

Before they could protest, she forged forward, looking first at Riko. “We need information. We need to take a closer look at the job we took last week. We also…” she hesitated, eyes flickering towards Dia and Ruby. “We also need information on the governor.”

Riko opened her mouth to argue, hesitated, closed her mouth, and nodded uncertainly.

Mari’s gaze moved to Yoshiko. Her momentum faltered and it was as if the two knew what she was going to say before she said it as both paled. “We’ve been avoiding it,” Mari finally said. “But I think it’s time we returned to Uranohoshi. We need to know what happened 5 years ago.”

Yoshiko swallowed.

“The bombing,” Dia said suddenly. “5 years ago. By Uranohoshi.” It wasn’t quite a question, but Mari nodded.

“Yes.” She took a deep breath and threw herself back into the plan. “Take Ruby-chan with you. We want her far away for as long as possible.”

“If you think we’re going to let you cart us off again,” Dia began.

“Onee-chan.” Ruby spoke up, cutting Dia off. Dia blinked at her. “I want to go.”

This time everyone stared.

But Mari didn’t have time to wonder; the clock was ticking. “Yoshiko, take her with you. Keep her safe,” she ordered. “Both of you need to get ready to go. Now.” Her eyes softened. “Trust me.”

They scattered, Yoshiko whisking Ruby and herself away to the bedroom to change Ruby from her dress to something she could be more active in. Riko went to gather some of her own gear.

“And me?” Dia asked. She was staring after her sister with a heavy frown.

“And you, Dia…” Mari knelt down and began unlocking the handcuffs. “Let’s play a game.” She was looking down so she didn’t see the look of confused familiarity cross Dia’s face. There was something awfully familiar in those words…

“What do you mean?” Dia asked, patiently waiting to be freed.

“I believe the people coming to ‘rescue’ you and Ruby are owned by a different master than the law. So, we’ll make this a bet. I want you to let me talk to them and not interfere. If you still truly believe they are good afterwards, I will let you freely go to them and I will surrender. If not, you will not fight me. At least not on this.” She stood up and stepped back towards the wall, giving Dia space to stand up and slowly shake out her limbs.

“You want to use me as bait,” Dia summarized, considering the seriousness in Mari’s words.

“Yes,” Mari admitted. She smiled a little, hiding her fear like she had always done.

In one quick move, Dia stepped forward and slammed an arm on the wall behind Mari. She leaned close, eyes searching Mari’s face—for what, the thief didn’t know—but Mari didn’t flinch nor did her calm little smile change.

“What if I don’t take your bet?” Dia asked.

“Then it’s very possible you will die today,” Mari replied truthfully, putting as much sincerity she could muster into those words. She _needed_ Dia to understand because if Dia fought her on this—

If she died—

“Can you trust me? Just this once?”

“What are you planning on doing?” Dia asked back instead of answering.

Mari’s smile widened mirthlessly. “I’m going to do what I do best: talk my way out of it.”

(-)(-)(-)

Riko left first, a bag slung over her shoulder and fiery determination in the set of her jaw. She looked ready and fierce. A small flicker of pride quivered in Mari’s chest as they hugged.

“This isn’t goodbye,” Riko said, voice muffled by the crook of Mari’s shoulder. “Don’t sacrifice yourself.”

“You too,” Mari said, squeezing her extra tight and wishing this entire process didn’t _feel_ like a goodbye.

Yoshiko left next, looking shockingly innocent in normal clothes and with her hair down. With Ruby at her side, they looked like a couple of young women out for a nice stroll. There was a hint of fear and grief in both their eyes, however, when it was their turn to leave.

“Stay safe,” Yoshiko muttered, hugging Mari quickly.

“We’ll see each other again soon,” Mari promised. She inclined her head at Ruby, a faint smile playing on her lips. “Please keep Yoshiko-chan in line.”

“And you protect my sister,” Ruby returned, eyes fierce.

And then they were gone.

Mari waited and then Dia exited the bedroom as well. Her eyes widened just a bit as she took in the dark-haired woman.

Dia had changed into a suit. It was one Mari had gotten for Riko that had never seen much use, but with it seemed like it had been made for Dia. She had pulled her hair up into a sharp ponytail and the way she moved was as if she wore a suit armor. There was only confidence and a rather attractive smirk as she came to a stop before Mari.

“Then the game is on, Mari-san.”

(-)(-)(-)

The squad car Chika, You, and Hanamaru were in approached the parking entrance to the building when a car peeled out of the entrance followed by several gunshots. Chika, who had taken the driver’s seat before any of the others could argue, began to press on the gas when—

“Ruby-chan!” Hanamaru called out, throwing open the car door and leaping out of the vehicle. She was off and running in a flash towards the entrance where they could see pink hair past some officers.

 “The other car might have Dia-san,” You said grimly.

“But Ruby-chan…” Chika shook her head, hesitating.

Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. _What should I choose?_ She thought. _I have to choose_ now _._

“Ruby-chan had the same training as us,” You pointed out, eyes intent. “And she has Hanamaru-chan.”

“But we thought she could handle herself last night,” Chika noted anxiously.

_“Do you know what it means to be a leader_?” Kurosawa Akira had demanded. “ _Do you know what sacrifices must be made_?” Was this a sacrifice Chika would have to make?

“ _I_ trust her,” You said challengingly. “Are you giving up on her?”

_It’s not a sacrifice,_ Chika thought. _This is trust._ “Of course not,” she grinned tightly, turning her gaze towards the rapidly disappearing vehicle in front of them. Their car shot forward once more.

“Let’s go, You-chan.”

You laughed a little. “I’m with you, Chika-chan.”

(-)(-)(-)

Ruby and Yoshiko arrived at the underground parking lot below the building at the same time two patrol cars came roaring in.

“Shit! Hide!” Yoshiko growled, pulling Ruby down behind one of the cars. “Damn it, Riko isn’t as good as hiding…”

Ruby peered out, following Yoshiko’s gaze to find Riko also crouching down on the far side of the lot across from them. She was fiddling with the car she was next too, her bag open beside her.

 “You two stay here. Split up and guard the exits,” the police sergeant ordered. She wore a non-standard trench coat and had a cap pulled low over her eyes as she barked out orders. “Don’t hold back. Shoot to kill.” Ruby muffled a gasp at the order and Yoshiko stilled beside her as the sergeant motioned for the rest of her officers to follow her to the main entrance.

None of the officers seemed to care about the order either, saluting with a, “Yes Sergeant Shiga!” as they split up.

“Stay back,” Yoshiko growled to Ruby. “I need to stop them from blocking us and Riko.”

She didn’t wait for a reply, slipping away into the shadows between the columns supporting the building and the cars.

Ruby ducked back into her own little space but after a few minutes bit her lip as she saw one of the officers turn back towards where Yoshiko was kneeling, slashing tires. The officer was frowning, squinting into the dim interior light as they started to raise their gun.

Without a thought, Ruby began running forward. “Hey!” She called out. “Over here!”

The officer twitched towards her and Ruby ducked behind the closest car. When she peered under it to where Yoshiko had been, the space was empty and she gave a sigh of relief. Then she blanched as footsteps began to run her way and she heard the crack of a gunshot and heard it impact somewhere at the car in front of her.

“Near the east entrance,” the officer said into his walkie talkie. “I think I saw one of our targets. You! Kurosawa Ruby! Come on out!”

Ruby began backing up, skirting the car and keeping out of his line of sight.

“I’m warning you! If you come out now, I won’t shoot you!”

Ruby would believe that when Chika decided she hated mikans. Instead, she moved slowly away, each movement silent and her breathing steady and even. Her eyes darted around her, looking for the best spots to move to keep out of sight and where to go to avoid getting boxed in by the presumably approaching officers.

She bit her lip when she realized that she had maneuvered herself into a section of the parking lot in between light fixtures.

“Come on ouuutt,” the officer drawled.

A siren’s wail cut through the air and another patrol car screeched into the parking lot nearby. Ruby’s stomach dropped and then immediately lifted again when Kanan leaped out of the vehicle, not even bothering to turn it off or park it.

“D-detective!” The officer sounded surprised and a little scared.

“Where are they?” Kanan snarled.

“Sergeant Shiga is upstairs going through the building. We’re just… keeping an eye out for escapees to… arrest.”

Ruby opened her mouth, eyes wide with hope. Kanan would—Kanan could—!

A hand wrapped around her mouth from behind and she was yanked away before she could do anything. “Quiet! Are you trying to get us all killed?” Yoshiko hissed in her ear under the ear-piercing shriek of the siren. “They’ll kill your friend too if they think she’s going to help you.”

Ruby stilled and she could feel Yoshiko relax.

“Sorry,” Ruby muttered as Kanan ran quickly into the building. “I’m not used to this.”

“It’s okay. Now how to get out of this…”

The lights in the parking structure flickered and went out to cries of alarm from the officers and Yoshiko laughed under her breath in triumph.

Again, the sound of a car grabbed everyone’s attention but this time... “They’re escaping!” Someone called as a car screeched around the parking lot and towards the exit.

With impressive closeness, the car skirted around Kanan’s empty police car and then past it. From the flashing lights of the still-active police car, Ruby caught a glimpse of Riko’s face, grim and focused as she hunched low over the steering wheel.

“We need to move now,” Yoshiko muttered as the officers ran towards the exit and tried uselessly to shoot at the escaping vehicle. “But I don’t want to leave Mari without an escape vehicle…”

“Um, Yoshiko-chan,” Ruby said with slowly dawning nervousness and excitement. “This might be a bad idea but…” She pointed at the patrol car sitting innocently by the exit still, siren blaring and lights flashing. “I think Kanan-chan just left the car with the keys and everything in it.”

(-)(-)(-)

When the officers stormed into the apartment, Sergeant Hitomi Shiga smirked in triumph as she saw only one of the purported trio of captors left, seemingly struggling to carry her unconscious hostage towards the door.

“It seems like your friends abandoned you,” she observed smugly, lowering her gun a little to smirk as the blonde put the hostage down on a nearby chair and faced them. “I would almost feel sorry for you if you weren’t just a petty criminal.”

“Step away from the hostage!” barked out one of the officers with her, gun raised still.

“And get shot?” the criminal asked, eyebrow raising. “As long as your master seeks Kurosawa-san’s knowledge, you wouldn’t dare to shoot.”

_Master?_ Hitomi wondered even as an expression too fast to see flickered across the faces of the officers with her.

“Don’t mind her,” the second officer muttered under his breath to Hitomi and the officer with her gun raised. “It’s just mind games.”

The criminal chuckled, still looking infuriatingly at ease. “Sergeant Shiga, right?” she asked and Hitomi jerked a little. _How does she know me?_ “I heard you practically live to fight crime. Perhaps you should look closer to home?”

“Enough talk! Let the hostage go!” the male officer snapped now, a hint of anxiety underlying his words.

“Have you paid enough attention to what just happened last night?” the criminal continued thoughtfully, eyes boring into Hitomi.

Hitomi frowned and then shook her head rapidly as she raised her gun again. “No. You can’t talk your way out of this, so stop delaying the inevitable.”

“I suppose I should get down to business then.” The criminal shrugged and turned to the officers, ignoring Hitomi. “I have the information you desire in a USB in my pocket,” she smiled. “I would offer it in exchange for letting me go free.”

The two exchanged glances. Hitomi couldn’t help but notice the flashes of greed crossing their face and she frowned. Then she mentally gave herself a shake. It was just paranoia from the criminal’s mind games. She wished this had been the simple kind of job where she went in and beat up criminals and then left.

But then the duo raised their guns again as if they were about to shoot at the blonde, uncaring of the hostage in their way.

“What are you doing?” Hitomi snapped holding an arm out as she stepped forward a little to block them. “What about the hostage?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw the hostage flinch. But she was unconscious and unmoving when Hitomi turned her head a bit more. Perhaps she had just seen the blonde moving?

“Okay,” the criminal said, raising her arms. “I surrender.”

All the officers froze.

“That’s… it?” Hitomi asked suspiciously.

“Well, I do want to check something first,” the blonde smiled with inscrutable cheer. “Hey~ Dia~ Wake uppp.” She poked her hostage in the face and the woman stirred, waking up quickly.

“W-what? Oh! Police!” She brightened almost unnaturally, but Hitomi supposed it was because Dia had just been kidnapped and that had to be a traumatic experience. “Am I saved?”

“Actually, I’m letting you go. I suppose you can leave with them now whenever you like.”

Dia stood up quickly and despite having just been unconscious and a hostage, looked supremely calm and collected as she surveyed the room. She sniffed. “I can leave by myself,” she announced.

When she moved towards the door, the three officers parted for her quickly.

She got all the way to the entrance before she hesitated. “Don’t take too long,” she said to the room. “I have work to do.” Then she left.

For some reason, a flash of triumph crossed the criminal’s face.

“Hey Sarge,” the male officer drawled, grinning nastily. “Looks like the blondie’s out of moves and has no hostage to protect her.”

“Right?” his partner chimed in, eyes alight with glee. “Nobody’ll mind if she goes out fighting.”

It was… tempting. But Hitomi wondered a bit about her reputation of casual brutality. Did the officers think she’d be okay killing an unarmed criminal? She fought to gain strength. Not break people who had already surrendered…

But still, the blonde was unflappable as she threw her head back and laughed. “Obviously you two aren’t high-ranking members since you seem to be sharing a brain cell,” she chuckled. “Did you really think I would get the information that quickly? And did you really think Kurosawa ‘I eat justice for breakfast’ Dia would leave a criminal to other hands when she would rather arrest me herself?”

A dumb, “huh?” was the only response.

“Your target is getting away,” the joker said simply. “And me having the information you want? That was joke. I bet your boss won’t be too happy about letting her go, huh?”

The officers blanched. Without a word, they whirled, smashing into Hitomi in their hurry to exit the room but they didn’t even seem to care as they sprinted out the door.

As Hitomi stumbled, the criminal slid up to her and disarmed her in a flash. Still smiling, she tapped Hitomi’s nose. “You search for strength. But if you’re so easily manipulated into doing what others want, are you really that strong?” she asked.

And then she was slipping out the door soundlessly, leaving only the sound of her words in the air.

(-)(-)(-)

Ruby had almost made it to the car when a body slammed into her and pushed her away. A moment later, she heard the sound of a gunshot crack through the air and impact close enough that she could almost feel the disturbance of the air.

Had Yoshiko-chan just saved her life?

“Ruby-chan!” a familiar voice cried out moments later.

Ruby looked up, heart jumping up ecstatically. Hanamaru was wrestling with one of the officers who had fired at Ruby. The other was already on the floor, looking dazed.

Ruby made to go towards her friend when Yoshiko yanked her back.

“Come on! While they’re distracted!”

“B-but Hanamaru-chan!”

Yoshiko snarled and whirled Ruby around to face her. “I don’t know why you wanted to go with me to,” an almost imperceptible flinch, “Uranohoshi, but even if you’ve changed your mind, Mari and Riko are counting on me. So we can do this the hard way or the easy way.”

Ruby swallowed.

The fallen angel did not wait for her to reply as she pushed Ruby into the back seat and slammed the door. A moment later the siren’s wail cut off at last, leaving an echoing silence only broken by the battle happening nearby.

The combatants began to turn but Yoshiko had already started driving. She pulled the sharpest turn Ruby had ever seen in the cramped parking structure—how had that even been physically possible?—and then sped off towards the other exit. Ruby turned around, heart in her throat.

She caught a glimpse of Hanamaru’s wide eyes staring after them in shock before she snapped back to the battle at hand.

Ruby sunk down in her seat and exhaled shakily. Her eyes darted to the front of the car, past the mesh divider and towards the shadowy figure at the front that was Yoshiko. Buildings were blurring by from the speed of her driving. She was completely quiet and focused and Ruby felt the silence and the empty space surround her like an immense chasm.

She had always had her sister or Hanamaru or even Chika and You around her in one way or another.

Now, Ruby had never felt so alone.

 (-)(-)(-)

Kanan flew up the stairs and narrowly avoided crashing into two horrified-looking officers on her way up. “What the-?” Kanan dodged to the side and they didn’t even acknowledge her as they raced down the way Kanan had come.

She would have thought they were chasing someone but Kanan had not encountered anyone on her way up.

Kanan hesitated and then continued further up and through the way the officers had come. Her ribs were protesting and she could feel a steady ache from the wound on her head but Kanan persevered. She was so close to Dia—and so close to—

“Matsuura!” Sergeant Shiga called out from the hallway, looking shockingly ruffled from her usual cool self. “Get her!” She was pointing towards the other end of the hallway where Mari was halfway out a window and Kanan blanched a little.

She really hated heights. Why did Mari have to keep making her do this?

But she pushed it down and sprinted forwards, fumbling with her gun. Mari was out by the time Kanan made it to the window and she stuck her head through the opening to try to get a glimpse of where the blonde was going.

With catlike grace, she moved across the ledges, heading towards a fire escape nearby and Kanan narrowed her eyes, calculating. Then she turned and ran along the adjacent hallway, searching for—aha!

Kanan braced herself, covered her face with her arms, and crashed through the window. Her feet crunched on the larger pieces of the glass shards that didn’t manage to fall through the gratings but she didn’t falter as she quickly oriented herself and began thudding down the stairs.

Below her, Mari was also circling her way down.

“Mari!” Kanan yelled. “Give it up! Where’s Dia?”

Mari ignored her. She reached the last level and swung herself off nimbly.

Kanan reached the same spot a moment later and ruthlessly stamped down the fear bubbling in her throat as she too dropped off. She landed and rolled to absorb the impact, almost blacking out from way the pain tripled from the force, but she managed to get to her feet again quickly.

She thought she lost Mari when a flash of blonde caught her eyes and she took off again.

Now that they were on solid land, Kanan’s feet practically flew across the ground.

“Mari!” She shouted through harsh gasps, raising her gun. “Freeze! Or I’ll shoot!”

At first, she thought Mari would ignore her again but then she came to a halt. Both of them were breathing heavily but Kanan’s grip didn’t waver and Mari didn’t turn around.

“Turn around,” Kanan ordered.

The criminal did, turning around slowly and raising her hands in the air in surrender.

“Kanan…” she breathed. A breathless chuckle. “Of course it would be you.”

Kanan kept her hands steady on the gun, biting her lip to remind herself not to shake or lower the weapon. She wondered if the regret on Mari’s face was a lie too, but she couldn’t convince herself that it was.

She had always known when Mari lied. She slowly breathed in, calming down her racing heart as best she could.

“Are you going to shoot me?” Mari asked, taking a half step backward.

“Don’t move,” Kanan barked out, tensing.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Mari breathed. This time, she stepped forward, closer to Kanan.

“What are you doing?”

“Wondering what you intend to do. Disabling shot? Perhaps shoot to kill?”

“Just tell me where Dia is,” Kanan bit out. “That’s all I need to know.”

Mari smiled, but there was no happiness in the curve of her lips or the slight crinkle of her eyes. “And if I don’t tell you? Are you going to shoot me?” she repeated.

“I won’t need to,” Kanan retorted. “I don’t need a gun to arrest criminals or to get the truth out of you.”

Mari shook her head and started to lower her arms. “You know that won’t happen.”

Kanan’s eyes narrowed. “Do you want me to shoot you?” she asked, lifting her gun threateningly.

“There are only two ways for this to go,” Mari said, shrugging elegantly. “You shoot me. Or you let me go.” Her eyes bored into Kanan’s. “Because if you take me in, you are signing my death warrant.”

But if Kanan didn’t get the information out of Mari, she would no doubt be signing Dia’s.

“Then tell me Dia will be safe with you,” Kanan challenged.

_She could always tell when Mari lied_.

Mari hesitated. “And you’ll believe me?”

_…Right?_ “Tell me,” Kanan repeated.

“I’ll protect her.”

Kanan breathed out a shuddering breath. “I trusted you,” she murmured.

“Do you still?” Mari asked, voice low.

“I don't know.” (But that was a lie. Against all odds, against all logic, Kanan still—)

Kanan's radio crackled. “I’m heading over! Do you have her?” Time was running out.

Mari stepped closer.

Kanan’s gun twitched, now aiming towards Mari's heart. Kanan bit her lip so hard she could taste blood. She had to make her decision now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had not meant to put Dia in a suit but. Dia in a suit. Just a little bit, but I had the option soo.... Anyways, I considered not stopping at a cliffhanger but I am just a bit evil. So. Enjoy.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the various subunits, some members split apart while others come together, but no matter which choices are made, they all must keep in mind certain truths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This EVIL chapter really did not want to be written. To be fair, I decided to take a detour from my outline which meant I didn’t have as clear a view of what on earth should happen here. Ah well, it worked out eventually. I'm going to have to update my outline at some point though.

Dia knew Mari had audacity in spades, but that did not change how baffled she was that the blonde’s grand plan was having her hide out literally next door.

The owner of the apartment, a rather disheveled-looking young woman still in her night clothes and a habit of slow, drawling speech had let Dia in with a mumbled greeting and then promptly conked out a few feet away from the entrance on a futon. Dia shook her head in disbelief.

All Dia knew was the woman’s first name. Mari had introduced her cheerfully as “Kanata-chan” before drawing the sleepy woman away for a hasty conference during their brief preparations earlier.

As if sensing Dia’s disapproving gaze, Kanata stirred and looked back at her blearily. “Did you need something?” she asked.

Dia opened her mouth, hesitated, closed it with a sigh, and then opened it again. “What do you even know about…” she waved her hand to encompass the general state of the world. “…all this?”

“Ehhhh… nothing,” Kanata admitted with no shame.

“I thought you’d say that,” Dia muttered under her breath. She eyed Kanata. “Then why did you agree to help Mari-san? You don’t...” She trailed away, uncertain how to delicately say that the effort of helping out criminals seemed far out of Kanata’s range of effort. She looked sleepy just existing.

Kanata yawned but there was an awareness in her body that had not been there before when her eyes next opened to meet Dia’s. “Mari-chan and the other two,” she said slowly. “Helped me and Haruka-chan when we had nothing.”

“‘Haruka-chan’?” Dia asked curiously.

Kanata smiled. “My little sister,” she said with a proud warmth Dia understood quite well. “She’s in college right now.”

Outside, the hard stamp of feet interrupted them. “Where did she go?”

“Down—It’s the only way out—”

The voices faded.

Dia listened closely but it seemed Mari’s gamble had worked. The officers had not thought to check the room right nearby, too riled and panicked by the situation to consider the possibility. Dia heaved a sigh of relief and turned back to the conversation at hand, her face falling into a contemplative frown.

There was something she was missing about Kanata; a piece of truth she needed to find out. It was as if she was telling the truth, but not the _whole_ truth…

“You are doing this to repay a debt to Mari-san while knowing absolutely nothing about what is going on?” Dia asked slowly.

Kanata shrugged. “Guilty Kiss never asked for payment or anything like that when they helped me last time,” she explained patiently. “They are good people and I trust them. Though Mari-chan did offer to pay me to do this…”

 In the end, it came back to money? Dia frowned, oddly disappointed by the conclusion. But also…

“‘Guilty’ what?” Dia stammered, wondering if she had misheard. What on earth was ‘Guilty Kiss’?

A slow, sleepy blink was her only reply.

Dia was about to press when a voice called out from outside the door once more. “Matsuura! Get her!” Dia jolted. Kanan was here?

She didn’t hesitate. Dia leapt for the door. Her hand was on the knob when she felt another hand rest, without pressure, on her shoulder.

“Wait.”

Dia turned, eyes narrowing.

Kanata regarded Dia knowingly, for once looking fully awake. “I didn’t accept the money that Mari-chan offered me for this,” she said. “Do you want to know why?”

“…Why?”

“The same reason you are staying when you could be leaving.”

Dia’s eyes narrowed. What could this other woman know about Dia’s reasons for hesitating at the door? To stick with Mari?

“I’d do anything for my little sister,” Kanata said. “Wouldn’t you?”

(-)(-)(-)

When Kanan did not take the shot, when she did not move at all, Mari took another step closer. She skirted Kanan’s arm, close but not touching, until she passed the gun.

They were close enough now that Kanan could see the fine detail of Mari’s face and the way her eyes shone in the sunlight. It was defiant and tired and familiar.

_She’s right there_ , Kanan’s brain screamed. But she was frozen, muscles unable (unwilling) to move. All she had to do was just… close her arms around the other woman. Like a hug.

Mari’s eyes searched her face for something, though she wasn’t sure what. “You’re too kind, Kanan,” she chided, smiling in relief and a touch of sadness.

The thief leaned forward and stole Kanan’s breath. Her lips brushed Kanan’s cheek, pressing against the corner of her mouth. Her arms wrapped Kanan in a rather clumsy hug.

Kanan stiffened.

Mari took a step back. “One last hug for the road,” she joked, voice just the slightest bit wistful.

Kanan reached out automatically but her open hand came to a stop when her radio crackled again. “Detective, we’ve received a distress signal from Officer Kunikida. We are unsure of her state, please provide backup at once.”

She inhaled sharply and her eyes shot to Mari who continued to stand there, within arm’s reach. _Dia_ … _or Hanamaru?_

Had Mari been telling the truth?

_Will Dia be safe?_

Kanan swallowed.

She made her decision.

“Go,” Kanan whispered. She turned and sprinted back towards the building.

_Please. Don’t let letting her go be a mistake._

(-)(-)(-)

Despite what many might think, Chika was not the first of the trio to accept Kurobane’s offer. She wasn’t even the second.

The offer was not an easy one to accept.

Sure, Chika wanted to be part of an organization that worked to stop the bad guys and help the country and the people in it. And Chika was not above admitting that being a “secret agent” just sounded exciting overall.

But… in all honesty, why her?

Kurobane made a big deal about “intuition” but that wasn’t something Chika could do on command. Not really. It just… happened. And wasn’t intuition just fancy guesswork? Who wanted to rely on that? Could Chika _really_ contribute anything?

And it was a dangerous job.

Kurobane had been clear: It would not just be dangerous for her, but for those close to her. Her family and friends. It would be safer if she kept them in the dark.

That was the second point that made her waver.

With Chika’s track record of her rather flighty interests, she was sure no one would even suspect that her move from police officer cadet to some other job as a cover story was anything short of truth.

She just… didn’t like the idea of lying like that. Despite all the ribbing she got jumping around careers, her sisters had always supported her and being an officer had seemed like it was _it_. That had been the job that she would stick to and make them proud of.

At least she wouldn’t have to lie to You-chan if she joined. She was the one person Chika couldn’t lie to and even the thought of that made her shudder.

Having You with her was definitely comforting.

But would she be okay with just You?

Probably, right? When You had joined her to become an officer, Chika had felt some unknown tension in herself drain away and she had felt the most comfortable in her choice then.

So, should she just go for it?

“Ahhh, damn it!” Chika flailed around wildly as if that would somehow chase away the thoughts running around in her head. She needed a different perspective, but—

“Shut up!” someone growled from the bed nearby along with a chorus of sleepy groans and mumbles from the rest of the people in the dorm and Chika quieted.

She didn’t want to approach You about her doubts because she knew You had really, really wanted to join and she didn’t want to poison that with her doubts. Well, that meant she had only one other option to go to for advice.

 

Chika snuck out of the dormitory and walked along the streets at a brisk trot. The nighttime chill was pleasant against her face and Chika almost wished that Kanan lived further away so that she could prolong her trip.

But soon she was stepping up the metal outdoor stairs up to Kanan’s tiny apartment and rapping sharply on the door.

She waited impatiently, hopping from one foot to the next and listening for the sound of movement.

She heard a soft murmur and then a click and the door swung open to Kanan looking disheveled and rubbing her eyes sleepily. “Chika?” she asked in confusion.

“How did you know that joining the police was right?” Chika blurted out.

Kanan stared at her blankly. “Chika, it’s like 2 AM.” But something about Chika’s expression made her soften and she added belatedly, “Come in. We can talk inside.”

She retreated back and Chika entered as well, removing her shoes as she looked around absently. Nothing much had changed since the last time she had visited.

Kanan’s apartment was still tiny and barren. The only furniture in the main room was the low table where Kanan supposedly ate, a paper divider blocking off a corner that Chika knew Kanan’s futon was in, and a small stand that held the only little bits of personal effects in the entire place, courtesy of Chika and You’s last visit.

Chika made a mental note to bring more decorations. This was sad and she would not stand for it. There had to be at least 20 more mikans.

As if sensing Chika’s thoughts, Kanan flung a can of juice at her from the mini-kitchen a few steps away. “So? What did you come here for?” Kanan asked, popping open her own can and taking a drink.

Chika settled down at the table. She couldn’t quite bring herself to look up at Kanan so she stared at the wood grain, tracking the shapes formed in it.  “How did you know that joining the police was right? For you?” she asked.

She heard and saw a bit of movement out of her peripheral vision when Kanan sat down beside her.

“That’s an interesting question,” Kanan murmured. “Are you thinking of leaving?”

“Yes. Kind of. Maybe?” Chika’s eyes flickered to Kanan and then back to one of the very interesting lines in the table.

“I’m not sure if I’m the best person to ask about this,” Kanan said. “Since I decided what I would do… far back.”

Chika nodded wordlessly. After Kanan’s parent had been killed, the idea had taken root. By the time Kanan had entered middle school, nothing else had shaken her from that path and it had been decided with very little fanfare. But even then, Kanan had to have faced the same feelings Chika felt currently.

The one that paralyzed her now.

“Weren’t you scared?” Chika asked hesitantly.

Kanan scoffed. “Of course I was.” She tilted her head thoughtfully. “But I thought to myself that if I backed down, I would regret it for the rest of my life.” She reached out and tapped the top of Chika’s head, urging her to look up. “Chin up, Chika. Knowing you, you’ll choose to do the right thing in the end.”

(-)(-)(-)

“That’s odd,” You muttered, watching the car speed forward in front of them with decidedly far fewer hair-raising turns than the last car chase. “There’s something different about whoever’s driving this car.”

It wasn’t to say that whoever they were following was making it easy to follow them in the winding streets of the Ghost District. Rather, each turn seemed to take a few milliseconds more to telegraph the direction and the driver was going just a little bit slower than You could remember from last time. Was it just the different car…?

“I think they’re trying to keep us following them,” Chika muttered, furrowing her brow in concentration. “…Damn it. Was this all to lure us away?”

You felt her stomach drop at that suggestion.

If this chase was just bait, then it was her fault they had gone haring off, abandoning everyone else for no reason.

…And from Chika’s set expression, they were not going to turn back anytime soon.

Chika could be very, very stubborn.

It was just one of the many things about Chika that You loved even if it sometimes drove her nuts.

Ahead of them, the car they were following seemed to give up on turning entirely and was just following the street… and was it slowing down? Were they giving up? Was it a trap?

“You-chan, how’s your aim?” Chika asked suddenly.

You understood at once. “Still better than yours,” she joked with a wild grin. “Just keep driving.”

She lowered the window and then inched out of the car, narrowing her eyes at the rush of wind. Chika obligingly slowed down as well while You took aim at the back wheels.

_Bang!_ _Bang!_

Bits of rubber scattered across the pavement and You grinned in smug satisfaction. “Yousoro! We got ‘em now!”

The car in front of them slowed to an even stop.

They stopped as well and You hopped out. At the same time, a figure got out of the other car.

One of their gloved hands hastily pulled down a ski mask over their head while the other stuffed something into a pocket and remained there.

“Hands up where I can see them!” You barked, raising her gun. To her side, Chika finished getting out of the car as well.

“Give it up! Where is Dia-san?” Chika yelled, raising her own gun.

The figure seemed unmoved as they raised a finger with their free hand. You and Chika hesitated, stalling their slow advance.

A second finger went up to join the first.

Alarm flashed through their minds as they tried to figure out what the figure was counting up to. You peered around them quickly, but all she could see were securely shut rows of windows and a worn street in need of repair.

A third finger.

The two agents tensed.

A cacophony of noise suddenly burst out of the other car. It sounded like some sort of song–the sort of music with a heavy bass that boomed through the air. It rattled windows, echoing around the narrow street, and thudding through their bodies.

Both of them flinched.

When You looked back, the figure was gone and Chika was tearing after them.

“Wait!” You cried out, but her voice was drowned out by the music. She cursed and sprinted towards the car. It was almost painful being that close to the noise and You threw herself into the open driver’s door, slamming a hand down quickly on the radio’s power button.

Everything fell silent and You turned.

Her heart sank when she saw nothing—or rather, no one—inside the car.

There was no Dia.

Just to be sure, You popped open the trunk and checked it out too.

As expected, it was empty.

You gritted her teeth, the failure sitting heavy in her gut. This was her fault. If she hadn’t been so sure that the fleeing car had been their target—

She shook herself quickly. She had no idea where Chika had run off to and she needed to catch up.

She was needed.

She reached up to her ear. “Chika-chan, where are you?”

(-)(-)(-)

The Ohara clan, like most yakuza clans, was a family with a hierarchy of elder brothers and sisters, of lieutenants, captains, and the clan matriarch—all of whom they gave their loyalty, respect, and obedience.

To Riko, Guilty Kiss’s immediate superior had seemed cool and unflappable, introducing herself as, “just Sakuya. No need to add ‘-san’ or any of that.” But then Yoshiko had punched the air ecstatically and Mari had sidled over to Riko to say something about how Sakuya had been the one to inspire Yoshiko’s fallen angel dreams and Riko’s respect had taken a bit of a nosedive.

Still, Sakuya had turned out to be a semi-reliable mentor. She was as prone to grandiose statements as Yoshiko was, but she was definitely experienced and was willing to spend extra time ensuring the newcomers knew how to handle themselves.

She also liked to take them out for fun trips. Sometimes to local dive bars and sometimes to places further like the stores at the heart of Uchiura.

Sakuya was also kind enough not to say anything when some of those trips would result in Mari dragging her friends off without their chaperone only for the trio to return in a couple hours with Riko with a magazine or two, Yoshiko with new fallen angel paraphernalia, and Mari with a smug smirk.

They had gotten close enough that when Riko saw a flash of color on Sakuya’s skin as she turned, she didn’t think before she blurted out, “You have a tattoo!”

When everyone looked at her, she flushed a little.

“Yes I do,” Sakuya said, amused.

“But I thought… I thought the clan doesn’t mark…” Riko reached up to rub the back of her neck.

“There are a couple of reasons why people get a tattoo in the clan.” Riko’s eyes darted to Mari who had her arms crossed in front of her chest protectively, lips tilted at a very slight scowl at nothing as she spoke. “Some of the highest-ranking members also do it to signify that importance. The most loyal do it as a sign of their loyalty to the clan and the way of life.” Mari hesitated. “Some are made to do it to prove their loyalty.”

“It is like a contract,” Sakuya said, resting a hand on her hip as she considered the teenagers in front of her. The trio startled at the terminology, exchanging glances.

The back of Riko’s neck prickled. Sakuya’s tone was calm, almost light, but there was a warning embedded in it.

“Once you’re marked, you can’t leave because anyone who sees it will know. Which is why we don’t do it in general, but why some do it anyways. If you ever do, make sure you think closely about it. It isn’t a decision you can easily run away from.”

“I see…” Riko said.

She fell silent and didn’t bring it up again, but as Sakuya departed for some other job, Riko wondered: for which reason had Sakuya gotten her tattoo? Loyalty… or something else?

(-)(-)(-)

_Run run run_ , Riko chanted mentally as she sprinted down a side street, weaving as best she could in case her pursuers actually took a shot. _Pretend they’re dogs. Pretend they’re dogs._

She could hear footsteps behind her as Chika, well, dogged her steps.

“Give up…!” Chika yelled. “I won’t stop chasing you… until you do!”

If Riko had more energy and less self-control, she would have liked to respond with more than mentally rolling her eyes, but she bit her tongue and continued focusing on escaping. Luring away the patrol car had been a spur of the moment decision in the hopes that it would help lessen the burden on Mari and Yoshiko. Getting caught was not on her list of things to do, however.

“I can keep this up for a long time,” Chika panted, sounding closer than before.

Riko ducked to the side abruptly, but Chika wasn’t deterred by her sudden change in direction.

“I can offer you a deal!”

The orange-haired cop(?) switched to bargaining in between rapid breaths.

Just how stubborn was she?

Riko ducked into a side alley and then cursed at the sight of a chain-link fence blocking her way. She didn’t hesitate, however, scrambling up the divide until she was perched at the top for a breath as she surveyed her next path.

“Please!”

She almost felt sorry for Chika, who ran up behind her and prepared to follow her up. Chika was almost close enough to grab Riko’s foot when Riko made her move.

“Sorry,” Riko murmured inaudibly. _But you can’t follow me._

She leapt.

Chika froze partway off the fence with her arm in the air as she gaped.

Riko curved through the open space and then landed neatly on a balcony. She very briefly glanced back down at Chika and then she turned and vanished out of her line of sight.

You’s voice suddenly sounded in Chika’s ear. “Chika-chan, where are you?”

Chika closed her eyes. “Sorry, You-chan,” she apologized quietly. “She escaped.” _It’s my fault._

_I wasn’t good enough._

Her hand tightened into a fist and she leapt back down to the ground, tense and angry at herself.

_Why can’t I do anything right?_

(-)(-)(-)

The first (and last) time Ruby said that she wanted to join the police force, she fled before her father and sister could do more than stare at her in mingled disbelief and horror.

Her father did not chase her down. He probably assumed that her declaration had been a transient fantasy of a young child. And he was busy. He had been since the loss of his wife and friends as he threw himself into his single-minded war.

But Dia followed her. Of course, she did.

Ruby heard the soft click of the door opening but didn’t look up from where she had settled down on the floor, fidgeting with a recruiting pamphlet.

Dia hovered by the doorway.

Ruby finally looked up when Dia didn’t say anything. Her sister looked far calmer than she expected, though still worried, the familiar scrunching of her brow marring her face.

“I am assuming that pamphlet was Kanan-san’s?” Dia asked gently. A couple of months earlier, Dia and Kanan had had some conflict over Kanan's own consideration of joining the police.

Ruby winced, froze, and then tried to shake her head. She immediately gave up lying halfway through and switched to nodding guiltily. “Please don’t get mad at her too,” she whispered, looking down at the floor.

There was a sigh and the ruffle of cloth. When Ruby peeked through her eyelashes, Dia had finally moved in and sat down beside her, settling with easy grace despite her recent growth spurt. “I am not mad at you,” she murmured. “I am worried about you.”

“I’m worried about you too, Onee-chan,” Ruby replied, then winced at her brazenness. She had been thinking about it a lot, but she shouldn’t have just _said_ it.

Dia startled. “Hah? Why?”

Ruby’s gaze pierced her sister. “Do you _really_ want to become a politician like father?”

Her older sister was scratching her mole now, nervous and quick. The bracelet she had taken to wearing some months ago jangled a little from the movement. “I am not _opposed_ to doing so,” she said evasively.

Ruby glanced away. “You haven’t been around lately,” she shared quietly. She didn’t want to sound accusing and there was shame in the way her voice wavered and how needy she felt. Dia had her own worries and her own goals, but…! “You haven’t been smiling as much and you’ve been acting like… like when it was just after she died.”

It had been a dark time after their mother died.

Their father had clammed up, eyes dark as he quit his job and began courting favors and wealth from his network. Smiles were few and far in between. Kanan’s calming presence had vanished as the girl either spent her time by her grandfather who had been sent to the hospital from the shock or running—running in search of something that would never return and running away from the truth of that.

And Dia had been the worst. She had been like a marble statue, trying so hard to stand tall and deal with Ruby’s crying and their father’s absence, but the cracks had been obvious. The shattering had been expected.

Dia swallowed. When she moved closer, Ruby hesitantly raised her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I—”

“I don’t want you to become like him,” Ruby interrupted in a rush. “I want… I want you to be happy.”

“Oh Ruby…” Dia’s voice was almost a breath with how faint the words were. She gathered Ruby up in a tight hug. “I am, okay? With you safe and with me, I am.” Then she drew away, her hands lingering on Ruby’s shoulders as she eyed her sister. “I’m sorry I haven’t been spending as much time with you.”

“You don’t have to,” Ruby said, suddenly shy. “I have a friend, Hanamaru-chan. She’s really nice and smart and she likes books.”

“I _want_ to spend time with you,” Dia said firmly. “You should never feel alone.”

Ruby peered at her. “You shouldn’t either,” she said.

“I’m not,” Dia said with a small smile. “And don’t think you’ve distracted me from that,” she added, gesturing at the pamphlet abandoned on the floor. “But… if you do go ahead with this…” Dia’s remaining hand tightened imperceptibly around her sister’s shoulder. “Stay safe.”

Ruby beamed up at her. “I will,” she promised fervently.

And as Dia patted her hair fondly, Ruby’s conviction firmed. She would talk to their father. Because he could take himself away and fold himself up in his box of vengeance, but Ruby could not let him take Dia away too.

(-)(-)(-)

There was nothing immediately suspicious about the way the officers were acting. They had come out the stairs out of breath, scanned Hanamaru as she cuffed their other two co-workers, and then set off to scan the area.

But when they approached Hanamaru and began plying her with questions, implying that she had something to do with the missing Ruby and Dia, she knew something was up.

When they became more aggressive, she subtly dropped a hand down to her radio.

But before she could do anything, she was knocked clean off her feet and she cried out as she felt a rib or two crack. The sound of a gunshot lingered in her ears and she fell back behind a car, probably saving her life as she heard more shots impact the vehicle. The radio had slipped out of her grip and was on the floor out of her reach.

Hanamaru wheezed as she scrambled to pull out her gun and get back to her feet.

“What a-are you doing?” she called out, backing up and away as much as she could.

“Sorry Kunikida,” the woman said, her face appearing over the edge of the car. “We kind of need a scapegoat for why we failed to get our target.”

Hanamaru shot the gun, biting her lip at the jolt of pain that ran through her from the recoil jostling her.

The shot went wide and the woman ducked out of sight.

Hanamaru tried to stay out of sight too, but it was a losing battle. The two managed to flank her from either side and Hanamaru was soon disarmed and pulled none too gently to her feet.

The man pulled out his phone as Hanamaru was escorted to the nearest squad car. “One of the other officers let them run free, sir. N-no, please! We would have gotten her if it weren’t for—sir! We’ll deliver the culprit to you directly! Please don’t— Yes. Ten minutes. We’ll be there with—”

Hanamaru listened closely even as she eyed the slashed tires of the squad car. Had they not realized that they had no mode of transportation?

She considered her options.

But before Hanamaru could do anything, Kanan appeared. The taller woman did not hesitate at the sight of the police uniforms nor the guns in their hands. There was something untamed, an unchecked fury about her as she slammed into the man and then barreled into the woman.

Hanamaru slumped forward in relief, catching herself on the hood of the squad car.

“Hanamaru! Are you-?”

“It’s… probably ok,” Hanamaru assured Kanan, looking back up. “The vest wasn’t penetrated. I just—I think a rib broke. They took me by surprise… and I was lucky.”

Without looking down, Kanan slammed a foot down on a grasping hand trying to reach for a gun. It cracked and the owner cried out and retreated to huddle on the floor. Some of the tension in her shoulders relaxed at Hanamaru’s words but her face became cold and frosty. “This is why I didn’t want you to come,” she said harshly. “You’re tired and not at your best.”

When Kanan was scared or worried or stressed, she drew herself away. Cold walls snapped into place around her and she pushed everyone out. Hanamaru knew that, but that knowledge did nothing to dampen the hurt that welled up.

“No one could have been prepared for _4_ officers turning against them,” she argued.

“You should have brought backup! Where are,” Kanan hesitated for just a moment, “Chika and You?”

“I… I think they were chasing another car,” Hanamaru said.

“Why didn’t you stick together?” Kanan asked, infuriated.

“I saw Ruby being attacked and that’s all I could think about, okay?” Hanamaru shot back. “Like you didn’t do the same to chase down Dia-san!”

There was a moment of silence as Kanan glared.

The fight trickled away.

“I—I know, okay?” Kanan said helplessly. “Dia’s my—” she stumbled, and then, “I know.”

She turned to the officer nearest and bent down, starting to cuff her.

“She’s gone. I lost her,” she admitted softly. _I let her go_.

(-)(-)(-)

A single green eye peering from between the opening in the bookshelf in front of her broke Hanamaru’s train of thought as her hand hovered over the spines of the books she was considering in the school library. “Zura?” she asked, then clapped her hands over her mouth. The eye blinked and then vanished with a squeak.

Curious, Hanamaru headed to the end of the shelf and peered over to the next aisle where a girl with pink-red hair was ducking. When the other girl realized she was caught, she blushed.

Hanamaru smiled at her a little.

Shyly, the girl smiled back and straightened.

Hanamaru glanced at the books nearby. “Do you like mystery books, zura?” Hanamaru asked, emboldened by the welcoming expression and coming closer. She paused when she caught her verbal tic but the other girl’s expression did not change to confusion or distaste and Hanamaru relaxed.

“R-ruby doesn’t mind them,” the girl, Ruby, said quietly. “And you?”

“I love all books,” Hanamaru answered truthfully. “They’re like really good friends, zura. Like family.”

“Like family?” Ruby echoed.

From the expression she was making, Hanamaru didn’t think the comparison was quite hitting the message she was trying to make. “Well, what I imagine is a really close family ya’know?” she added quickly. “Or just think of a close friend, zura. Books are always there for me.”

“Like a sister?” Ruby asked quietly.

“Y-yes, zura?” Hanamaru said confusedly. “Sure…”

Ruby shook her head. “Nevermind,” she muttered. “Just thinking.” She smiled, small and quick. “Do you have a family?”

“Just my parents, zura,” Hanamaru said. “Though sometimes I wonder what having siblings is like.”

“Ruby has a sister,” Ruby said, eyes growing distant once more. “Maybe one day…” She snapped back, and transformed, a bright smile forming as she stood tall. Her eyes twinkled a bit. “She’d like you, I think. Maybe one day she can become like your sister too. She’s a lot better than a book. You’ll see.”

Hanamaru laughed, and with the tension well and truly broken, the two huddled together to talk about books, family, and everything they could think of for the rest of their break.

(-)(-)(-)

Guilt gnawed at Kanan painfully even after she dropped Hanamaru off at the hospital. So, when Hanamaru messaged an address with no other explanation, Kanan didn’t hesitate or question the message before heading out.

The address turned out to be a quaint little tea house that Kanan would have missed entirely if she hadn’t been double-checking her directions. It was squeezed right next to a bookstore and Kanan couldn’t say she was too surprised.

The place was very… Hanamaru.

There was a flurry of movement as the kindly looking old woman manning the counter greeted Kanan. “Is Hanamaru here?” Kanan asked after a quick round of pleasantries. She looked around at the mostly empty shop. There seemed to be mostly older people pleasantly chatting with one another, though there were also two teenagers in a corner table and shyly talking.

“She’s in the back, dear. You can go join her,” the old woman said pleasantly before turning away to continue puttering around with her little pots of tea leaves.

Kanan edged around the counter and soon found her other partner sitting serenely at a low floor table in the back veranda which opened up to a pleasant, if tiny, garden. Hanamaru had hidden her injuries under loose-fitting clothes and somehow maintained seiza on her cushion without seeming bothered by pain. Opposite of Hanamaru was an empty seat, but there was something expectant about the way Hanamaru waited peacefully, eyes closed as she breathed in the scent of her tea.

It felt as if that seat belonged to someone already. Not Kanan, but…?

Kanan shuffled her feet awkwardly when she reached Hanamaru’s table and looked down at it, feeling out of place and still uncomfortably guilty for the harsh words she had said earlier.

Despite the serenity the shop owner had managed to achieve in the back, there was still a faint hum of the city at the edge of Kanan’s hearing. In a way, it relaxed Kanan a bit to have that piece of familiarity and Kanan decided to stop towering over Hanamaru. She hesitated at the empty seat and then borrowed another cushion from nearby and set it down adjacent to Hanamaru.

She sank down with a wince. Her injuries protested the movement.

“Every Sunday, we would meet here to drink tea together,” Hanamaru shared after a moment. “Dia-san truly loves her matcha.”

Kanan looked up at Hanamaru quickly, but the other woman didn’t acknowledge it, eyes closed as she took a sip of her tea. Biting her lip, Kanan waited for Hanamaru to continue.

After another pause, Hanamaru finally put her tea down and turned an unblinking amber gaze at Kanan. “You are not the only one who lost a partner,” she reminded her softly. “Dia-san is my partner too.” Her eyelids fluttered a bit as she took in a deep breath. “And Ruby-chan is my best friend.”

She held her hand out, palm facing upward in invitation.

“You are not alone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got slammed with no free time but I also kept thinking about LLS like constantly and I’m dying a little asjkhasfd;h
> 
> This chapter had none of the characters I expected to write about here, but they kind of barged in and I couldn’t stop them?? Whatever, it doesn’t hurt to give them more screen time I guess. 
> 
> Also, am I throwing too many flashback/history sections into this story? Am I leaping around too much in general? Should I (try) to stick to only a couple characters per chapter? I feel like I’m all over the place, but I just have so many ideas… Hopefully it’s not too confusing, though be sure to tell me if it is and if I need to get a grip.


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